1
Director: Paul Crowder
Rating: 5/5
There are some fantastic documentaries on show at the BFI London Film Festival, and 1 is just one of them. In recent years Formula One has been a hot film topic with documentary Senna and drama Rush both hitting the big screen, and both enjoying huge critical acclaim.
1 is the latest Formula 1 film as Paul Crowder returns to the director’s chair for the first time since The Real Revolutionaries of 2012.
The movie is an engrossing look at the history of Formula 1, from the inception of the World Championship in 1950 through the sport’s deadliest period in the sixties and seventies. Not only does it look at the thrill and danger of the sport but the drivers who made the sport what it is.
Like Senna and Rush before it, 1 is an exciting look into a compelling and highly dangerous sport and yet this film has an identity of its own and never tries to repeat what has been done by previous projects.
Using fantastic archive footage Crowder takes us through the history, with an array of the sport’s biggest names talking about the danger of the time and the drivers that inspired them to take up motorsport.
The deadly years of the sport create some of the film’s most powerful moments as we see the likes of Jim Clark and Jochen Rindt live and die on the track. The deaths that littered the sport during that time really highlight the lack of safety awareness that there was; which is quite staggering when you think about it.
New designs, bigger engines, faster cars were pushing the sport forward and yet the tracks where they raced where not designed to cope with this changes and enhancements to the vehicles - many drivers paid for that with their lives.
There is not doubt that the crash footage is spectacular but it does give a very sombre feel to certain elements of the film: but Crowder doesn’t wallow in this aspect of the sport’s history.
1 is not just made up of archive footage but also contains some fantastic interviews with icons of the sport. The likes of Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell all talk about aspects of their careers, drivers they admired and how they got into the sport in the first place.
From start to finish 1 is a thrilling and totally compelling movie as we get to look at the history and the changes of this wonderful sport.
Crowder strikes the perfect balance between the glamour and the danger of Formula One and just how much drivers were putting on the line when they got into their cars in the sixties and seventies.
You don’t have to be a fan of Formula One to understand and appreciate what a fascinating watch 1 is: it is dramatic, emotional and powerful and will hook you from start to finish.
Crowder has delivered some great documentaries over the years and he has given up another gem with 1: this is an absolute must see for all fans of the sport.
The BFI London Film Festival runs form 9th - 20th October.
Tagged in BFI