Loud and proud
Ford v Ferrari is exquisite. Directed by a filmmaker in near total command of his craft, James Mangold’s is the closest any recent film has come to replicating the indescribable feeling of watching a real race.
Ford v Ferrari is a lot like Clint Eastwood’s Sully — a truly cinematic picture, made in America, about everyday American heroes. Faced with dwindling sales, Henry Ford II decides that the best way to reverse the fortunes of the iconic company is to buy out Ferrari. When that plan flops, he decides to humiliate Enzo Ferrari on the world stage, at the 24-hour Le Mans race in France. Ford enlists visionary automative designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to create a car that will challenge his invincible rival’s. But Ford has no history of racing, so Shelby brings in the eccentric English driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale), a man so difficult to deal with, that despite his unmatched instinct and skill, he’s been bumped out of the racing community.
Bale is tremendous in the role; like Miles, aware of precisely when to put his foot on the gas, and when to ease off it. He pitches his performance ever so slightly over-the-top, acutely aware of the kind of film he’s in. Because despite being a drama geared at the multiplex audience, Ford v Ferrari is delightfully oldfashioned in its execution to create a uniquely communal experience.
As Miles’s long-suffering, fretful and devoted wife, Catriona Balfe is saddled with a role that would have felt outdated two decades ago. I think she has more screen time with a telephone and a cup of tea than with Bale. Eventually, and this is where the film is at its best, Miles and Shelby are nothing more than tiny cogs in a giant corporate machine. And as exhilarating as Ford v Ferrari is, it begins and ends with moments of introspection.