A Life of Speed: The Juan Manuel
Fangio Story
2020
Biography / Documentary / Sport
IMDb 6.8
I
follow modern F1, but I'll admit my history is patchy. I know Juan Manuel
Fangio of course, one of the very best... if not the best, but there's an opportunity to learn much more. However, the bar is set high for documentaries
these days and this doesn't really reach that bar. It's quite formulaic, pretty
dry, certainly in the opening half-hour which is a dull history lesson through
Fangio's initiation into motor racing. Granted I learn he started at a
surprisingly late age by today's standards, being 37 when he first raced in
Europe. It was a different time in motorsport, near impossible to compare
today's drivers to those from Fangio's era and the pacing of A Life of Speed
grinds to a halt as this topic is covered. Today it's marginal gains, fast
reaction speed, different tracks, radically different cars. There was no desire
for comfort in the 50s and little thought to safety. I only mention this as it
sadly seems to be the key point of the film. There are lots of familiar faces,
Stewart, Prost, Häkkien, Rosberg, Alonso, Wolff, coupled with plenty of archive
footage, but it feels as much a history of F1 and motor racing as Fangio
himself and nothing particularly new. Senna's death, the horrific crash at Le
Mans and some archive audio dubbing that sounds slightly suspect. Much is made
of Fangio's achievements, winning 5 championships with 4 different
constructors, but this feels bolted on and really should have been the central
theme. For me that's where this suffers, structurally it's very loose, well-intentioned, but lacking pace and a good story arc. Frankly, I think Fangio
deserves better.
Initial release: 2020
Director: Francisco Macri
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