Weekend of a Champion, 1972.
Directed by Frank Simon and Roman Polanski.
SYNOPSIS:
In 1971, director and Formula 1 fan Roman Polanski took his film crew to spend the weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix with the then World Champion Jackie Stewart, a star who practised and competed in the most glamorous of races in the calendar. After being largely unseen for many years, the film has been fully restored and added to, giving us an unusually enlightening portrait of a sportsman at the peak of his powers.
If you don’t know who Jackie Stewart is or couldn’t care less about Formula 1, you needn’t fear as this is balanced and intriguing enough to capture anyone’s attention.
With very little preamble we find ourselves walking alongside Jackie Stewart as he heads for the race track. He’s full of nerves, tetchy about the possibility of rain and trying to ignore everything that’s going on around him. The film stops just before the race starts and we cut to a few days previous where we meet a very different Stewart.
He immediately comes across as an intensely likeable man unlike many modern sportsmen – very humble, willing to talk to people and seemingly unaffected by the trappings of fame.
We listen to him intently as he drives a car around the track pointing out exactly how he’s going to be racing it and letting Polanski know of any possible dangers that could come up. While I’m not a racing fan, I found this and many similar moments completely enthralling as he speaks with so much warmth and humour that he could probably get you to listen to him no matter what he was speaking about.
What you find even more fascinating is how Stewart changes over the course of the weekend as it draws nearer to the big race. While still very pleasant, you can visibly see the focus and tension in his face as he mentally prepares himself and you find yourself getting caught up in the moment with him.
The film does also have a slightly darker side to it as it mentions and discusses the deaths of five of Stewart’s closest friends, all of whom were racing drivers. While it doesn’t really go into enough detail on this point, or the general dangers of motor racing in this age, it is enough to remind us that Stewart should be nervous as this is still an incredibly dangerous sport.
Despite this, Stewart at one point talks about being the ‘Animal Driver’. What he means by this is that as soon as he gets in the car, all nerves and distracting emotions disappear, even in one race where a close friend had died on the track. Stewart still had the race to finish so he carried on, pushed his emotions to one side and then felt everything as soon as the chequered flag came down.
Just as a look at the man, this is a fascinating film. However, as a straight film there are one or two issues that hold it back from being brilliant.
The main issue is that there is very little in terms of an actual interview during the film and for the most part the film is just cameras following him around. While we still find out a lot about Stewart, we could have done with a proper sit down interview to ask a few more tough questions and to really delve into the man’s core.
The ending of the film (the big race) is also a little anti-climactic and doesn’t really feel that needed. Despite the result, which I won’t ruin for anyone who doesn’t know, the way it’s edited and portrayed doesn’t give you any feelings of excitement and in a sport so fraught with danger, it really should.
However, the film really is more about Stewart and he is the reason that you want to watch this film. A witty, passionate man at the peak of his powers and someone you’re more than happy to watch for the complete running time.
Simply put, this an honest and revealing portrait of man who, unlike today’s sports stars, is almost entirely unaffected by his fame and only interested in one thing: racing.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Ozzy Armstrong is a Stargate and Rocky superfan. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published October 8, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
