Ok, I’m hoping I won’t have to talk about Minnesota weather on every Weekend Roundup but this is truly ridiculous! Schools are canceled today nationwide, ordered by the Governor, and every forecast says things like “Limit or even eliminate time spent outside today” and “It’s truly dangerous out there.” My brother in Jakarta thought business would be closed too, but not a chance, though I did opt to work from home today. I’m coming in to work tomorrow though as temp is slightly better, but man, I sure hope this is the last arctic blast we’re gonna see in a while. This is brutal!!

Naturally, I hibernated all weekend. We finally caught the sci-fi drama Contact for the first time, thanks to my pal Ted for lending me the DVD. Another film we saw was 1976: Hunt vs. Lauda (Thanks The Revolver Group, for sending me the dvd), which was dramatized in the Ron Howard film RUSH. Here’s my review:

1976: Hunt Vs. Lauda

As I quite enjoyed RUSH, I was definitely curious to see this documentary about the first Formula 1 superstars and perhaps the greatest sports rivalry. Sometimes a film took a lot of liberty and over-dramatize the story, especially something THIS sensational, so I wanted to see the real story of James Hunt vs. Niki Lauda. The documentary is only 60-min long and it focuses primarily on the races in the year of 1976. So we didn’t quite get the background of each of the racer which would’ve been nice to see.

What strikes me is how close the portrayal of both Hunt and Lauda in the film version, especially German actor Daniel Brühl as Lauda where he totally nailed the mannerism and way of speaking on top of being made up to closely resemble the Austrian racer. In this film, it’s also Lauda who gives us a bit more insight into his character and also the drama that went on in those dangerous races. I guess the fact that Lauda is the only one still alive today gives him the edge, but the flamboyant Hunt was pretty short in his past interviews as well. We do get a glimpse of Hunt’s ambition from his sister in one of the interviews, how he’s got this single-minded drive to win the world championship.

We’ve got talking heads such as Lauda’s Ferrari manager Daniele Audetto and Hunt’s manager at McLaren Alastair Caldwell, providing eye-witness account of the event. It’s interesting to see that throughout the film, it appears that despite the rivalry, Hunt and Lauda are pretty good friends. Even Lauda himself was happy when Hunt won the World Championship after he crashed his car, and Hunt was one of the first at the scene of Lauda’s crash as well. Caldwell said that Hunt said this following the accident, “Niki, you re the only person I know who could have been in a fire and come out better looking.” Despite the difference in character, they seem to really like each other, so RUSH somehow made it look as if there were more animosity between them.

The racing footage was pretty thrilling to see, especially that rainy day in Japan where it obviously looked too dangerous to race on. It showed how the World Championship race was very tight, Lauda was way ahead initially but by the end it was neck and neck. It’s fascinating to see Lauda’s determination to race merely six weeks (2 races later) after his accident, and he was so nonchalant about it when the press asked him about it. It did affect his decision to withdraw from the Japanese Grand Prix as by then he had faced a near-death experience and he simply couldn’t go through it again. I’ve come to really respect Lauda and find him to be immensely sympathetic. He barely has anything bad to say in his later interviews and he doesn’t seem to have any regret despite the major scar he received from the accident.

One complaint I have is the audio issues with the disc, which makes the narrator’s voice sounds so dim at times that it was tough to hear. Fortunately the sound from the footage and interviews are fine. It was worth seeing the real story of Hunt and Lauda, especially if you’re a fan of sports documentaries. Hunt had the looks and the glamor, but Lauda’s got the heart and technical precision that made him a racing legend. Though he lost in 1976, he went on to become world champion again in 1977 and 1984. As I said before, I wish there were more backstory here before the real rivalry began. These guys certainly have incredible stories worth-telling.



3 out of 5 reels

The DVD is available starting tomorrow on Amazon.com

That’s my weekend roundup folks. What did YOU see this weekend!