Ford v Ferrari

Two days have passed since I finished watching this movie but, I was kinda busy to write a review so here I am. At first, I had no hope for this movie, I mean, my friend Nev told me about this movie and how great it was. However, I thought it was going to be a boring movie. Oh boy, was I wrong! This movie is excellent. I loved and enjoyed the dynamics between Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby throughout the movie. Both share a fascinating love for races, but each one had his own flaws. Shelby developed an addiction to certain pills due to the sequels of racing in his youth, while Miles, despite his love for racing and family, had a bit of an extreme temperament (like Christian Bale with his anger issues; this role for him fit like a glove). There's a moment where he threw a wrench at Shelby after getting mad about some technicalities about his trunk. The movie begins with a retired Carroll Shelby who's addicted to pills, with no motivations at all—or at least, that's what I got after watching the movie. He has his automobile company and a racing team in which Ken Miles was part of. Nothing new or exciting happened until Ford Motor Company decided to make their racing team to reinvent themselves, considering Ferrari's dominance in racing (they won LeMans like 3 or 4 times in a row). Despite selling fewer cars than Ford, Ferrari's automobiles were highly valued by teenagers of that age. At first, Henry Ford II wasn't interested in approaching his company to the racing world, and they had little time since LeMans was in 90 days. However, one of his employees convinced him to do so since Ford was considered a brand for old people, not for young people. After the decision was made, they tried to become allies with Ferrari (since they were bankrupt), and it seemed Ferrari was eager or at least thinking it over, but it was all a charade. Enzo Ferrari himself rejected the deal and began to say things like Henry Ford II was trying to live up to his grandfather's legacy but was just a knockoff; he was no Henry Ford; he was just Henry Ford II. Such things infuriated Henry Ford II and decides to make come true the idea of Ford having their own racing team and winning LeMans no matter what. Since the company needed a team and the experience of someone who knew about cars, they contacted Carroll Shelby. Ford Company gave carte blanche to Shelby, they had the money but no team or even an automobile, though this carte blanche thing is quite relative, yeah unlimited money for this project but, we’re still talking about a company, those guys want results, immediate results, they’ll try to put their noses and change some things “for the best of the company” and that’s what it happened in the movie where this Beebe guy tried to get rid of Ken Miles for not being able to behave as a member team or when he stole the cup for Miles using some technicalities. The rivalry between Ford and Ferrari is what makes this movie great. It's not mere propaganda trying to make us believe Ford is good and Ferrari is bad; both companies have their flaws. "Ford v Ferrari" isn't the tale of two companies having some bad blood; it's the tale of how two men were capable of pushing their limits, how racing gave them back a purpose to live, like being able to provide money to his family like Miles or how Shelby gained his humanity back and stopped being a man who just limited to exist. It was the journey, not the end, that matters in this movie. Despite losing the cup (in Ken Miles' case) after a great race, Ken Miles doesn't care about it, which is a huge development. The Ken Miles we watched in the first minutes would probably have another fit of rage, but this Ken Miles is different. Deep down, he knows he won the race, but it doesn't matter because racing helped him provide money for his family. He enjoyed developing the automobile Ford used for LeMans. All the experiences he lived were enough for him, as we can see in the last minutes when he slowed down his vehicle just to let Ford have their photo of three Ford cars coming to the finish line at the same time. Another thing I'd like to comment on about this movie is the soundtrack, the ambiance, and how you can feel you're in that car, how you can feel you're the pilot on the steering wheel. The ambiance doesn't feel like chroma keying; it feels alive. There are no boring shots; you can feel you're there, especially during the nights in LeMans where you can see nothing. What can I say about this movie? It was worthwhile. Every part of this movie was well done; the cast was incredible, even the minor characters like Henry Ford II. I was speechless about Tracy Letts' performance; I enjoyed his representation of Henry Ford, like his manners, voice, or facial expressions. You can see in him the representation of a CEO who wants to continue the legacy of his family and not be stuck in the past. To me, this movie was a 9.5 out of 10.