On January 18, the film "The Big Race. Audi versus Lancia." The plot is based on the real confrontation between the Audi and Lancia teams in the 1983 World Rally Championship. We tell you why the "Big Race" turned out to be a passing sports film and why it is not saved by an exciting real story.
Before the start of the 1983 World Rally Championship, Audi was considered the favorite in the fight for the title. A few years ago, the German automaker changed the whole sport. The company was the first to use four-wheel drive cars in the races and lobbied for changes in the competition rules for this. Soon the rivals realized that either their pilots would also switch to four-wheel drive cars , or they would become uncompetitive.
Unless the manager of the Lancia rally team, Cesare Fiorio (played by Riccardo Scamarcho), does not admit this. Cesare convinced the higher management that his pilots would be able to win the manufacturers' championship on the rear-wheel drive prototype Lancia Rally 037. For the sake of victory, the manager does everything: makes the car as easy as possible, uses loopholes in the rules, and signs racer Walter Roerl to the team — although he wants to leave the rally and breed bees.
The confrontation between "Lanci" and "Audi", even without artistic fiction, resembled the plot of a sports drama: with comedic inserts and increasing tension. There were not enough cars for the Lancet to allow the 037 model to participate in the championship, so the number of copies produced was artificially overestimated. And the star of the team, Walter Roerl, refused to perform in half of the races. He was tired of the life of a professional racer and personal titles were not important, so under the contract with Lancia, Walter rode only a few favorite tracks.
The course of the races was also interesting. The rear-wheel drive "Lancet" was hard on the ice in Monte‑Carlo, that's why the team secretly sprinkled salt on the track, and during the race they changed the studded tires to "bare" ones. In Italy, the problem was not snow and ice, but dust: cars picked it up during the races, which worsened visibility for the following crews, so the pilot of the Lanci pretended at the start that his seat belt had come apart. While he was "fixing the damage," the dirt had settled.
But the "Big Race" doesn't seem to have enough imagination to show all this interestingly. The finds of Cesare and his wards in the film are presented as if by a list from a Wikipedia page, which is why even the ingenious solutions in the film look either boring or confusing in their comicality and simplicity. It is unclear, for example, what the hitch in Sanremo is connected with: either with the cunning plan of the team, or with the dramatic excitement of the pilot.
The story of "Audi vs Lancia" was told a few years ago in The Grand Tour Audi Quattro 1983 vs. Lancia 037: Rally favorito de Clarkson | The Grand Tour | Prime Video Portugal / Prime Video Portugal Jeremy Clarkson. In the form of a 16‑minute story, it turned out to be much more exciting both from the point of view of the script and from the point of view of shooting . Perhaps that is why the episode where the commission considers the released Lancia 037 models in the picture by Stefano Mordini almost frame-by-frame repeats the British program. The film itself seems to be a very stretched version of it.
The best motorsport dramas often consist of two components: a strong story and inventive racing scenes. Ron Howard's "Race" conveyed the emotions of the drivers during the races through the contrast of close-ups of their eyes and general plans with rainy tracks. Something similar is being done by "Gran Turismo" by Neil Blomkamp. "Ford vs Ferrari" was impressive in its authenticity: specially trained drivers drove exact replicas of cars of the mid‑60s at high speeds in various locations.
There is nothing to praise the "Big Race" in terms of action. Firstly, there is very little of it. Most of the races take place somewhere behind the scenes. The main character of the picture is a manager, so cabinet conversations interest the director more than what is happening on the road. If the race appears on the screen, it looks mostly like a cut of the same type of close-ups of drivers and rapidly changing shots from the track. It doesn't get any better even in the final race, except that the music in the background gives some kind of emotionality to the key moment of the picture.
The action in the picture is hindered by the uncertainty of tone. "The Big Race" still can't decide which movie it wants to be: funny and touching or exciting and adrenaline-pumping. All these moods meet in one scene and turn into an incomprehensible mess. Walter can stop in the middle of the race to try honey from a local beekeeper, and the Lanci team can quarrel at a crucial moment in order to make peace safely in a minute.
The plot also suffers from uncertainty. The "Big Race" sometimes tries to raise interesting topics. For example, what can you do to win and is it acceptable to sacrifice your life for the title. Especially if this is the life of the driver, and not of yourself. But the painting seems to be afraid to show Cesare as imperfect. The hero endlessly makes excuses and explains himself in an interview with a journalist so that the viewer knows exactly how to treat him.
"The Big Race" is a movie, although cute, but extremely nondescript. This is a sports drama that loses to competitors in the genre in terms of action and TV shows in terms of script. And even for those who really want to watch something related to motorsport, the release of The Grand Tour will give more emotions.
