Schumacher
Documentary (English/Netflix)
Rating: 4/5
Not unusually, sporting legends from a time preceding this moment are names on the tips of tongues only when a yardstick they helped set is not one anymore: images fading as quickly as their influence is forgotten.
Filmmakers, having understood the impact of sepia-toned nostalgia, have for long recreated heroes in sport to keep the athletes’ story running in a show of reverence. Perhaps a shared love of ‘moments’ too.
'Schumacher', the documentary on Netflix, is the latest in this lineage, and it is an able torchbearer to its larger-than-life Formula One-based predecessors.
No, it doesn't have the heart-wrenching, inspirational sound and editing nuance expressed in ‘Senna’. And no, it does not have the expert positioning of the culture-collision between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in ‘Rush’.
‘Schumacher’ is simpler, more efficient and not about the frills. This then is as good a documentary on arguably the greatest Formula One driver of all time.
Michael Schumacher, the seven-time World Champion, has, since 2013, was known to get as much out of as little as possible.
The German was perhaps the perfect culmination of Senna and Alain Prost, and the documentary is masterful in expressing the internal battle between passion and reason. Also, his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde-syndrome: a cutthroat racer by day and a loving persona by night, is approached neither with judgement nor with fear. It’s done as matter-of-factly as a documentary should.
A very private man through his career, Schumacher was rarely known as anything beyond being an impossibly good driver. Although we get to see glimpses of him as a whole here and the family which sustains him, we don’t get too much.
And this limited exposure draws you in more, makes the Schumachers more approachable. The family even speaks of his skiing incident in 2013 and subsequent coma, with grace and brevity. It was revealing enough without revealing too much.
The documentary is not without its flaws: the background score could be toned down and a little less forceful on the emotion and more of his earlier interview footage could have been used.
That’s really just nitpicking. It’s a watch worth your time. If nothing else, it’s time spent on a legend whose face reminds you of a simpler time.