Enzo Ferrari (TV Mini-Series)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: C+
Despite the participation of the current members of the
Ferrari family, the TV mini-series Enzo Ferrari (2002) knows the facts
and strings them together well, but does not know the music and has other
problems. I remember a friend of mine
who loves airplanes was expecting Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (2004)
to be more about flying than wealthy eccentric Howard Hughes. Here, this story about Ferrari should be
about the cars and the man, but instead relegates the cars to incidental status
and his life story traded down into a melodrama that even has characters being
rude to him!
No doubt that the Ferrari name is still one of the great
names in world automotive history and the cars themselves continue to be top
rate. So rich is the history and story
behind that history that it will take a Scorsese (or similarly great filmmaker,
not necessarily an Italian one either) to really do justice to the story and
legacy that director Carlo Carlei and his two co-writers of the teleplays with
him they have grossly underestimated.
Sure, they suggest maybe he was playing loose with the Fascists to keep
his factory going, but that is not explored deeply enough as to trivialize both
him and a key part of history. The
conclusion of the very long and drawn out 215 minutes could not end fast
enough.
As far as special interest DVDs on Ferrari the car are
concerned, there are dozens. You are
better off with any of them. The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is soft and looks like it was shot on tape or is
down a couple of video generations enough to have that phony video look. Color is barely consistent and detail is
bad. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
supposed to have pro Logic surrounds, but does not. There are no extras, but for the White Star DVD people, I guess
enough was enough.
- Nicholas Sheffo
