Cinema Reviews

Lauda: The Untold Story Review

27th Jun 2015

With the success of Rush a couple of years back (which included a terrific performance by Daniel Brühl as racing legend Nikki Lauda) fresh on people’s minds – this documentary sets out to delve deeper into the former champion’s life on the track.

Perhaps to get attention right away it focuses on the infamous crash of August, 1976 that left Lauda disfigured for life. There is an interesting background to the track and the alterations made to it in order to make it safer for drivers, and also to the onsite safety response teams.

The documentary does go back in time to drop knowledge about the sport itself and has a few key figures in racing make an appearance to deliver some insight into how the sport and safety was mismanaged down the line (Itself alone would make a fascinating documentary). Beyond this though, the trajectory of this one is fairly standard for documentary features.

There are a variety of languages in the film. So viewers will need to be ready not just for English speakers, but also some participants speaking in their native tongue who are subtitled – but also you will find English speakers who are then dubbed over by a foreign speaking commentator. We suspect this is the condition some older interviews simply came in.

Lauda is thankfully here to present his views as he sees them – taking us through his experiences starting as a driver, through the ups and downs of the different brands he represented and his relationship with the media.

This might turn a few curious heads who saw the Ron Howard film, but isn’t likely to extend out much beyond enthusiasts for the sport. Many of who will be down with the facts already.