Summary
Top-notch performances and fast cars engage audiences in this historical biopic, even if the ultimate message isn’t always clear.
From Bullitt tp the Fast and Furious franchise, cinema audiences just can’t get enough of films about cars racing each other for dominance. FORD V FERRARI picks up on the twin threads of historical rivalries and true life legends, kind of mixing the narrative ambition of the 2011 documentary Senna with the conventions of modern race photography.
In director James Mangold’s account, a failed buyout attempt of Ferrari by the Ford Motor Company results in a bitter rivalry between Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts). Determined to upset Ferrari’s winning streak at 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford enlists car designer and former racer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to help them win. He rankles against the execs with his choice of driver, the talented but acerbic Ken Miles (Christian Bale).
Historical dramas where we know the outcome tend to have a bit of the life sucked out of them from the start, but the addition of fast cars and the even faster passage of years makes this a pretty engaging yarn from the get-go. While we must take some of the “factual” elements with a grain of salt, screenwriters Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller spend most of their time building up a fractious dichotomy between the pure racers and the suits.
In this murky water we get some mixed messages, with the film either being staunchly about the power of individualism over the machine or possibly the triumph of institutionalised American exceptionalism. The character archetypes are reduced to good suit versus bad suit, the good driver, the bad boy driver (and his wife) and a pair of automotive titans representing corporate power at its top end.
Drilling down into the individual performances, audiences are more likely to find something to hook into. Damon dons a Tommy Lee Jones drawl and numerous Texan-sounding aphorisms (my favourite being “He thought you was just finer than frog fur”) to give him a down-home quality, while Bale is the cockney motor-poet with the heart of gold. Both are excellent in their respective roles, pushing through some of the more hockey dialogue to give gravitas to their characters. It’s unfortunate the same can’t be said for the one significant female character: Caitriona Balfe as Miles’ wife Mollie, who alternates between Mary Sue and abruptly irrational.
The final Le Mans sequence keeps the pace and is where the film (and frequent Mangold collaborator, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael) really soars. In between the agitated Italian hand-gestures and the alternately infuriated/bemused looking executives, the closed circuit machinations of a race in perpetual motion makes for a gripping final stretch.
The kicker comes in a brief epilogue that mostly stays true to the post-Le Mans 1966 timelines but may leave some audiences with a bitter taste in their mouths. Yet this is a solid but of heroic sports cinema with all the requisite villains and heroes. Who wears the white helmets will all depend on which side of the corporate fence you’re viewing this.
2019 | US | DIRECTOR: James Mangold | WRITERS: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Jason Keller | CAST: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 152 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 14 November 2019 (AUS)
