Ferrari: Race to Immortality

This motor racing doc about the Ferrari team in the 1950s is purely for the fans-an excuse for digging through archive footage of daredevil driving, sleek cars, and the sight of a winner being handed a bitter pint on Silverstone's finish line. It is based on' Mon Ami Mate' by Chris Nixon, a biography of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins drivers from Ferrari, both a picture of blond-haired boyish charm and reckless ambition. Win or die, you're going to be immortal,' Enzo Ferrari told his stable drivers-and a shocking number of drivers died. Between 1950 and 1960, 39 motor-racing drivers were killed behind the wheels of cars that we consider to be as robust as baked bean tins. Ferrari's image emerging from the talking heads is a guy with a huge appetite for glory: when a driver was killed during a test drive, he would have said, "What is the car?Tales of past gentlemanly sportsmanship remain here, but the price of motor racing was high, not just for the drivers. During a crash in the Le Mans race in 1955, a car's front torpedoed the crown Director Daryl Goodrich has access to all the right people, and his video is well curated, but it is doubtful that ' Ferrari ' will convert non-petrolheads.

Very interesting picture of a decade that lived this sport with such glamour and at the same time fierceness.

One of the points that I DIDN'T like is the little spotlight director puts on Juan Manuel Fangio... documentary was like "and there's Fangio, the Scuderia leader.. meanwhile Peter Collins blabla", "and there´s Fangio, the best driver of all time, anyway here we have Mike Hawthorn", and was like "I want to know more about Fangio, damn"

But anyway, documentary was interesting, I´ve enjoyed and learned from it.

Recommended.

I generally agree with the 5 previous reviews to mine, but I loved it. It tells the story well about the risks the drivers took (and perhaps pushed by Enzo, their fans and their women), the camaraderie among drivers despite their competitiveness, and how dangerous the sport was back before crush zones were designed into the cars, tracks had runoff areas, and research backed helmets and hans devices were mandated. It's sad because it's all true, but great because it tells and shows the story. In summary:

The bad: limited coverage of Enzo, limited mention of other Ferrari drivers debatably more important to Ferrari's history than Collins and Hawthorn (which the film tends to focus on), poor editing of the new filming of the old cars in action vs the original footage.

The good: Fantastic old race footage with clean visuals and good coloring, great story about Collins and Hawthorn, good stories about a few of the other earlier drivers. Wonderful, if sad, story of how it was back then about the dangers and the drivers.

This movie is not about very badly designed and constructed racing cars in the fifties. It is more about poor judgment drivers who were regularly killed driving those flying coffins. How come this all sport was not banned at the time is beyond me. Profit above people, I guess! Enjoy if you can, but it is pure horror, if you ask me.

Another great documentary about motor racing and Formula 1 after McLaren and Williams, two films that also came out this year. Ferrari: Race to Immortality takes place in the mid 50's and tells the story of Enzo Ferrari, his complex character, his famous racing team and the drivers with emphasis on two great British masters of the wheel, Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorne.

The film is beautifully made, the archive footage of the races and cars are great. The story is told through interviews and narration by Enzo Ferrari, fellow drivers, wives and girlfriends. Drivers back then were a special breed of people, their determination, passion and love of racing is hard to understand sometimes but it is also hard not to find it beautiful and inspiring. They lived their lives on the edge and to the fullest, basically trying to cheat death every time they drove those cars. They were warriors, gladiators, stars and gentlemen. It is impossible to compare Formula 1 of today to those times, it almost seems like a completely different sport.

The film has quite an emotional punch as well, many young lives tragically ended, families lost sons, brothers, fathers and husbands in their pursuit of speed and dreams.

Strongly recommended to all motor racing and Formula 1 fans regardless if you are a Ferrari supporter or not, I believe you will not regret it.