The current bumper crop of biopics yields another winner: Director Michael Mann’s dazzling “Ferrari.” Based on the book by Brock Yates, “Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine,” the movie showcases two Hollywood headliners who bring their all to every role they play: Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz.
After watching the trailer, I was a bit worried “Ferrari” would contain too many horrific crashes that would freak me out. There were exactly three. The first one takes place on a racetrack, where there were few onlookers. Unfortunate, of course. The second ones occur along the Mille Miglia route; one is partially shown in the trailer. Tragic, given how many village spectators were directly affected.
Knowing nothing about Italy’s 1,000-mile open-road race before seeing this film, I learned this grueling competition began in 1927. It ended in 1957, after the two crashes shown in “Ferrari” during that year’s high-speed race from Brescia to Rome and back again.
Ferrari himself knew tragedy long before that year’s spectacular wreck in the village of Guidizzolo. His son Dino died in 1956 of probable Duchenne muscular dystrophy; the exact cause of the sickly son’s illness remains a mystery. Dino was the only child of Enzo and his wife Laura, played so well by Cruz. And while both parents were heartbroken when they lost their son, each seems to have handled their grief in different ways.
For one thing, Enzo had a second family. The tension between Enzo and Laura vs. Enzo and Lina (Shailene Woodlety) is the real substance of “Ferrari,” at least for me. Complicating matters for his grieving wife Laura was her discovery that Enzo also had another son, Piero. In those days, Piero was thought of as an “illegitimate child.” Today, he not only has his father’s surname, but is also a billionaire thanks to the family business going public in 2014.
For viewers wanting a deeper dive into Ferrari’s entire life story, Yates’ book is a logical starting point. As well, Darryl Goodrich’s 2017 documentary “Ferrari: Race to Immortality” examines the relationships among several of Ferrari’s race car drivers. For a sport where the risk of death was such a prominent feature at the time, the bonds of friendship forged by such intense competition surely engineered lifelong attachment.
If you are looking for an action movie this holiday season, “Ferrari” will be hard to beat. The Commendatore’s legacy is secure, and audiences’ perennial taste for a thrilling drama will drive big box office numbers from this year straight into next year.
“Ferrari” is playing at The Moviehouse in Millerton.
