Just as Ayrton Senna rose above being just another fast driver in his decade of Formula 1, this film of his life rises above being just another sports doco.
Yes it has the advantage of inbuilt poignancy - that the Brazilian champion died racing in 1994, 10 years after first announcing his remarkable talents behind the wheel at the Monaco Grand Prix.
But using only footage of his life - largely retrieved from the official F1 archive - with occasional contemporary audio interviews of those who knew him, this doesn't play like a obituary. It would rather show than tell.
That makes for a headrush of a movie, a thriller in which you have to keep reminding yourself that it's also a documentary - and that it isn't a handsome movie star depicting Senna but the guy himself.
And though the F1 footage is unnerving, especially that from the racecams shot from just behind the drivers' shoulders, the real drama and intrigue emerges from the official film shot in the pits and backrooms.
