A Heart Racing Race

Review: Ford v Ferrari (2019)

By: Meg Davy

For this meeting, my friends and I were a little leery of how much we would enjoy Ford v Ferrari since none of us are big car people, so we weren’t too sure on how well we’d be in tune to it. Plus, the two and a half hour run time was a little daunting to see. However, I think I can speak for my friends as well when I say this was an amazing movie. We were very enthralled with the story line and were constantly on the edge of our seats on the ending. And spoiler warning for those who haven’t watched!

So, the build up to the final race was great because we got to grow close with Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon, and especially Ken Miles, played by Christian Bale. I think it’s also important to mention how amazing of a job Christian Bale did in his role for this movie because he really was one of the biggest reasons I loved this movie because he brought so much life to portraying Ken Miles. The banter between Ken and Carroll seemed so natural because of Bale and Damon’s chemistry and it all just worked so well together, so there were a good few laughs from us throughout the movie. However, I will say there were some tears as well (both angry and sad) because we were just so shocked at the end. We all agreed that, yes although Ken Miles had his big turning moment at the end of the race where he finally decided to work with others rather than do his own thing and it fit the ending well, it was still upsetting to not see all of his hard work pay off to win the biggest race of his life!!!! The scene where everyone passes him and he looks up into the stadium to see Enzo Ferrari and his slight nod is a masterpiece, but an upsetting one. Now, I haven’t really followed the real life story, but surely people also rushed to Ken Miles and congratulated him… right??

Well, we thought that Ken getting the win stolen from him could be the saddest thing in the movie, but then the last ten minutes happened (cue the sad tears). Even though this is clearly based on a true story and we knew most of the people portrayed are most likely no longer with us today, it was a shock to see Ken die just months right after the big race. It seems bittersweet that, even though he died doing what he loved, he still only got to revel in his experience from the Le Mans race for just two months before his death.

Overall, I think it’s safe to say that this movie exceeded our expectations and is proof that sports movies can and should be able to relate to audiences both well versed in that sport and those unfamiliar with the sport.