Racing Films

What do you do if your wife and unborn baby are brutally murdered? Why not go to the Monaco Grand Prix and make a film?  Well that is what Roman Polanski did. 

It was really hard to pick which film to put up on this site first, I didn’t want to go with a cliché favourite like ‘Senna’ as we all know how awesome it is and also I didn’t want something tacky like ‘Taledega Nights’ (coming soon).  I picked this one because I’m not sure many people have seen it, it is a beautiful film and I have always been a big fan of Jackie Stewart. The film was originally released in 1972 at the Berlin Film Festival.  I don’t know how far it reached from there, but without it being widely available on other formats like VHS or DVD the film disappeared until a re-release in 2014.  The re-release includes an epilogue discussion between Polanski and Stewart added at the end.

‘Weekend of champion’ is a fascinating slice of life documentary that follows Jackie Stewart for a weekend at the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix, Stewart would go on to win the Championship later in the year for Tyrell.  The filming was initially directed by Roman Polanski who appears at various points to have discussions with Jackie Stewart who talks enthusiastically about his ideas on racing.  The film comprises mostly of the raw footage from 1971 with natural dialogue and minimal narration apart from a well reconstructed and timed background race announcer. 

When you watch this film in 2020 what is immediately obvious difference in the times; the pits are just on the side of the racetrack, the crews move slowly taking minutes to change a wheel, the team boss pushes the car to the grid and in those times Monaco had high tire splitting kerbs everywhere, like a normal road.  A lot of these are pointed out by Stewart himself when he describes in detail how he goes about a lap of the circuit.  In 1971 Formula 1 had become glamorous, but it was still naive, still raw and still very dangerous.

The film tackles some of the heavier issues around motor racing.  The tension around a racing meeting, pressure to set up a car, dealing with fans and media are all covered in a very personal way.  Stewart talks openly about some of the stresses these aspects of racing cause but also captures the intensity a driver feels once they are alone in the car.  The film also deals with death, as this was the early 70’s cars were now running with lethal combination of huge power and minimal safety. Horrific accidents were not uncommon. Stewart points out that the chances of a racing driver surviving his career was one in three, yet they were still out there.  The spectre of death becomes particularly poignant where we see some very sombre shots of Nina Rindt who looks haunted by the death of her Champion husband Jocken Rindt in the previous season.  She does not speak but the footage of her depicts the impact on those left behind very powerfully.   It was these experiences and the loss of close friends that lead Jackie Stewart to be such a strong campaigner of driver safety during and after his racing career.

Interestingly Polanski offers some insight on accidents from a cinematic point of view.  At a previous race Stewart had a bad accident, but Polanski commended him for managing to crash in the perfect position for it to be captured on camera.  Stewart in turn commended the cameraman for his bravery to stay with the shot to capture such excellent footage of it.  This highlighted for me why so many people love the sport, it is such a great visual spectacle that is always on the edge of instant danger which is what is captivating for Polanski. The film is not all sombre and morbid though.  Some of the other highlights would be the discussion of Stewart’s sideburns, him being interviewed at length in nothing but his undies and some amusing anecdotes about the incompetent flag waver Louis Chiron at the Monacco GP for many years.

The last 20 minutes of the film is a discussion between Polanski and Stewart reflecting on seeing the compiled edited footage more than 40 years after it was filmed.  It is particularly touching to see these now aged men, at the end of long careers candidly discussing their thoughts on the times of the past.  What was particularly interesting was Stewart asking Polanski why he made the film, I assumed this was something they may have discussed at the time but apparently not, Polanski’s answer was simple…he just loves racing.

Overall this is a beautiful trip down memory lane that has been edited carefully to tell an interesting story, It transported me back in time and made me feel like I was actually there then brought me right back to the present day.  I thought this film showed the innovation of Polanksi, at the time slice of life was not a common type of production, but the film has similarities to the ‘Drive to Survive’ series despite being filmed 50 years ago.  Genius.