Le Mans (1971)- Review

Watched. 

My rating: 9.5/10. 

 

 In 2019's December, I watched Ford VS Ferrari (2019). In 2020's December, I watched Porche VS Ferrari. Is this the best film made about car racing? Probably.

 Le Mans stars Steve McQueen as the driver for Porche in the 24 hours long race known as Le Mans. The film opens with a grey-black Porche driving down the road steadily, declaring that the film is not about the characters. Its about cars; fast ones. The car stops at the race track and Steve steps out of the vehicle and can see the guard rail he is facing. We see his wrists resting on top of the door, wearing a watch around one and a bracelet around the other. We cut back to the back of his head and the camera starts to slowly swing around to reveal the face of our quiet character who has a curious look on his face. A moment. The camera zooms in to his eyes. Cut to guard rail, zoom in and the shot goes blur. The frame, black now. Bokeh lights appear, gliding effortlessly on the screen. Hues of blue, yellow and green shine through a chain-link fences.

 Before we know it, we're thrown in the middle of a race. Cars crash. Belgetti- McQueen's character's name is printed on the spoiler of the car, surrounded by flames. Match cut to a red Jacket with the Name Belgetti wrtten on it, worn by a woman with worried expressions. Its his wife. McQueen is being taken to a hospital. Its a flashback! Cut back to him staring at the guard rail. He gets back in the car, and drives away on the track.

 You understand this character. You know where he is coming from, and you know where he is going. Not a word is said up until now. The title "Le Mans" appears with its bold yellows, proclaiming that this film is about the race. The event. The event known as life. And that's just the first seven minutes of this film.

 There are so many such brilliant, purely cinematic, moments in this. Watching other racing films, I always thought how hard could it possibly be. 'I could do that with a bit of a practice!' said my past self, with with words rich in ignorance. But this film conveys the true weight of driving at insane speeds. A palpable sense of risk is maintained throughout the runtime. Even when the character is not driving, you can hear the cars rushing somewhere on the track, outside the building. The race is always present; even when the character's loved ones don't want it to.

 Editing this whole movie together must've been a nightmare. But its some of the best I've ever seen. There is one sequence which cuts back and forth between two shots which I'll definitely steal if I ever get to make an action movie. The cars gunning down the road with a blanket of rain around them is now imprinted in my memory.

 The cast does bare minimum, and that's absolutely fine. Its not a drama. It has dramatic elements but that does not make it a drama. But it does have a killer conversation between two characters which I won't spoil.

 Le Mans is an exciting, creative and ingenious film which has a lot to teach. I think this is now my favorite movie about racing.