An effective sports drama on the world of racing.
read more
Race For Glory, a film inspired by true events and loosely based on the contentious rivalry between Audi and Lancia during the 1983 World Rally Championship, is directed by Stefano Mordino who also co-wrote the screenplay. The film is done docu-drama style and is anchored with strong performances from Riccardo Scamarcio, Volker Bruch, Daniel Brühl and Katie Clarkson-Hill. Despite only using English as a bridge between the two languages, the movie never loses sight that it is a story about Italian and German car makers.
The film starts with the introduction of Cesare Fiorio (Mordino), the manager for Italy's Team Lancia who is mid-interview, where he demonstrates his passion for motorsports and is clearly fuelled by his desire to win. The central conflict is then articulated to the audience by Fiorio’s acknowledgment that the rival racing team, Audi, has the finance, manpower and technology which Lancia lacks.
The film cuts to Audi testing its Quattro at the Oberbayern testing ground in Germany where we are introduced to the Audi team manager, Roland Gumpert (Brühl) and treated to the distinctive powerful Quattro’s inline-five being recaptured with immaculate details, including the goosebump-inducing sound of turbo flutters.
Throughout the film, Fiorio’s interview is interwoven with the depiction of ensuing events and people involved in the playout of the rivalry between Audi and Lancia during the World Rally Championship.
Scamarcio is excellent in his portrayal of Fiorio, who he plays as man hounded by his intense, obsessive and consuming pressure to win the World Rally Championship which would be the key to selling new type of cars for the victorious team.
Despite facing the formidable Audi team with its technological edge of the 4-wheel drive developed to overcome all terrains, Fiorio–with his brilliant trickster instincts–is able to come up with on-the-spot solutions to seemingly irresolvable problems, such as partially snow-covered roads at Monte Carlo Rally (which would have put Lancia's two-wheel drive cars at a disadvantage) or certain qualification requirements. Fiorio's solutions are ingenious and hilarious in its execution, and some of the most fun in the movie is figuring out what they are. It is clear that Fiorio is the kind of person who studies the rulebooks carefully and finds loopholes to his advantage.
I especially enjoyed the scene where Fiorio goes to meet retired driver turned beekeeper Walter Röhrl (Bruch) to get him to join Team Lancia in which Fiorio has a conversation with Röhrl full of hidden meaning to convince the latter to join Team Lancia without clearly articulating his request. I am however a little disappointed that the film did not quite reveal or explain the reasons behind Röhrl’s infuriating eccentricities, such as pausing mid race to enjoy a conversation with a farmer or his insistence in only participating in half of the races and his choice of World Rally Championship locations.
In another development, Fiorio hires Jane McCoy (Clarkson-Hill), a nutritionist, after meeting her at a party to keep the Lancia team healthy by keeping tabs on their food and drink intake including sleep hours. McCoy serves as an effective foil to Fiorio and she keeps him grounded and puts him to task when his decision almost causes a tragedy. We wish more insight to Jane is shared with the audience, even if it is done so by way of exposition. Other than finding out that Fiorio was well acquainted with Jane’s deceased father, and that Jane is still traumatised by her loss, we never get a firm idea of her character. The same can be said for Gumpert who essentially plays the antagonist to Fioro’s protagonist as we only catch a glimpse of his life relating to personal problems arising out of the stress from the race.
Brauch’s portrayal of famed rally racer Röhrl deserves to be singled out as another of the film’s highlights. The character is wracked with inner conflict and is grappling with feelings of disenfranchisement due to the cut-throat nature aspect of the racing circuit and never-ending quest for fame and in response, he instead seeks solace in rearing bees.
Racing films may not appeal to everyone, but Race For Glory was an enjoyable watch (and I am not a die-hard motorsports fan) with an inspirational messaging given the depiction of a true David vs Goliath story, supported by good committed emotional performances from the cast. The film effectively captures the drama that can play out both on and off the track in the world of racing and the integration of real-life documentary and TV news footage and re-creations is refreshing.
read less