Capturing the magic of Le Mans

The Le Mans 24 Hours is a jewel of the motorsport crown. It’s the most gruelling race in the game and while the weight of an overall victory has been diminished in recent years, there is still a magic that envelops the event.

It will come as no surprise that as a freelance motorsport writer, the film Le Mans ‘66 has been on my radar ever since it was announced.

Predictably, a motorsport film has the disadvantage of being well-trodden turf for me. Cinema is about escapism and when it brings you back to your very own day-to-day, that can taint the experience. Not the case with Le Mans ‘66 – it’s the most entertaining motorsport flick ever put to film, with amazing performances, witty dialogue and a true story rich in emotion.

The film unsurprisingly centres around the battle between Ford and Ferrari – after all, the film is called Ford v Ferrari if you’re stateside – as the two manufacturers went to war in the mid-1960s. Ford aimed to wrestle the Le Mans crown from a Ferrari marque that had scooped top honours for the last five years (1960-’64.) And what wins on a Sunday sells on a Monday.

Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon, was the last non-Ferrari driver to win the great race but had to hang up his gloves due to heart problems. Having turned his attention to car design, Ford acknowledged that Shelby would be the man to mastermind their victory. Against Ford’s initial wishes, Shelby brought in British-American racer Ken Miles – portrayed by Christian Bale – as a driver to inspire the project.

Ford ultimately failed in 1965, as a tight time-frame proved costly and unreliability hampered their efforts. The GT40s were faster than the Ferraris but failed to make the distance and so, attention turned to ‘66.

The film is largely faithful to history. There are plenty of nods to motorsport minutiae that thrilled this particular enthusiast, all the while making it accessible to those not initiated into the racing world.

I know this for a fact. My opportunity to watch the movie prior to release was as a result of it being Cineworld’s secret screening on Monday evening. My friend, who has no interest in motorsport whatsoever and who would have never chosen to watch a film about something as mundane as cars going around in circles, loved every second of it.

Damon and Bale deserve a huge amount of credit. Their chemistry is exceptional and their friendship is believable, despite the fact that they play such distinctly different characters.

As Shelby, Damon attempts to balance so many emotions. He misses his days behind the wheel, rejoices at an opportunity for another tilt at Le Mans – albeit on the other side of the wall – and struggles to deal with the corporate Ford that looks to steal a little too much control over the project.

Meanwhile, Bale is absolutely brilliant as Miles and unexpectedly delivers one of the best comedy performances of the year as the racer with an attitude and little concern over offending those at the top of the food chain.

Both would be great value for an Oscars nod and the great performances don’t stop there.

Tracy Letts is exceptional as Henry Ford II. He steals every scene he is in and plays the corporate bigwig expertly. Right at the start of the film he gives a rousing speech to his workforce and it is one of the best scenes in the entire film and his delivery of the word “ruminate” is alone a reason to pay the ticket price.

Watching the white collar Ford staff attempt to please their boss is always entertaining and both Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca and Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe give these boardroom scenes real life. In a picture about motorsport, flash cars and big racing personalities, office meetings should bog the film down but instead, they simply enrich the story and gives the film a better pace.

And you know the pacing must be good when you reach the end of a 2hr30m film and are absolutely ready for another 30 minutes of content. This is a movie with a long runtime that it absolutely justifies and I struggle to think of a single scene that could/should be cut.

Le Mans ‘66 had a lot to do in order to impress me. Motorsport is not the reason I go to the cinema and yet something so familiar – so grounded in my reality – was able to deliver one of my most enjoyable cinema experiences of 2019.

Near perfection is required to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. It’s quite fitting that this is a near perfect movie.