The Hidden Angle | 'Ford v Ferrari' is not just about racing cars and 'perfect laps'
'Ford V Ferrari' is set in heteronormative heaven for motorheads where a car these men drive is a girl they are making love to on race tracks and off. There are pin-up girls in garages, disgruntled suits, self-indulgent corporate auto owners, and our underdog Ken Miles (Christian Bale) who fights dirty corporate politics with the help of his friend Caroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to be able to race. You must have noticed all of this about the Oscar-nominated film -- more like a wet dream come true for motorheads who love films -- that is set in the mid-1960s. So let's go beyond the race cars and the thrills of the track.
Underneath the 6,000 or 7,000 rpm that drives the men in the film lies a string of moments that portray compelling relationships between two men. One between Shelby and Miles, a second between Miles and his son Peter (Noah Jupe) and the third between Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone).
For those who know about the feud between Ford and Ferrari, which is what the James Mangold directorial is based on, the movie is purely about capturing the moment right. Be it the final Ford, for people like me, who enjoy action films, but are otherwise ignorant about the world of Ferraris, Porsches, and Fords, the film still packs a great punch. It's old school, and the rumbling of the cars never stop.
Yet, the different kinds of relationships between two men that the movie captured caught my attention. Let's take Ken Miles and Caroll Shelby for instance. They are great friends and Miles is backed by Shelby in the local race circuit. Shelby, a former racer himself, understands the potential that Miles has but is unable to actively help Miles because everyone in the circuit considers him "difficult". At an opportune moment, Shelby tries to help Miles get scouted by Porsche but the deal falls through because of Miles' abrasive behavior right before a race.
So when the opportunity to build a race car for Ford knocks Shelby's door, the first person he thinks of is Miles. There is no other driver who can put Ford's name in the international racing circuit map like Miles and Shelby strongly believes it. He successfully brings Miles on board and the two of them together put hours of work into Ford's GT40. They dream of winning the Le Mans cup for Ford together in 1964 but corporate politics plays spoilsport. Everyone onboard Ford believes that Miles is not the right man -- or more accurately -- the right brand that goes hand in hand with Ford and so he is taken off the team and that year Ford loses big.
This does, however, help Shelby wrangle a deal with Ford later, which lets him have full control over the team that would compete in the 1966 Le Mans. He then has to convince Miles to come onboard the new team again, but the only way Miles can look past Shelby's betrayal of leaving him behind is by throwing a punch. The idea that men deal with problems by getting into a fight is a stereotype that we do not want to cultivate, but here, it plays right. It is probably the time that the film is set in.
What does add flavor to this scene is Miles' wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) sitting in her yard as she watches the scuffle play out. She even offers the men some drinks after they run out of breath and her nonchalance is refreshing. Miles and Shelby go back to working together and they do it with ease because they understand each other really well. They might not agree with each other all the time, but that is beyond the point in the film.
Then we have Miles and Peter. This father and son are close. Miles takes his son to races, does victory laps with him and he shares things about racing that a few others might not deem appropriate with his kid. Miles treats his son like he would a friend, which is why he shares his hopes and dreams with his son more honestly than he does with his wife. There comes a point in the film when Miles considers giving up on racing and even throws his trophies in the trash. For Peter, Miles' son, the trophies mean too much to be trashed, so he brings them back and stashes them underneath his bed. He understands that his father was meant to win races and be behind the wheel. He roots for his father's victory every time Miles is on the track and we see a mix of reverence and pride in Peter's eyes initially. Fear gets added to the mix much later when he sees his father's car go up in flames during the test drive. He understands the possibility of his father not returning in one piece at that moment when the brakes failed and the engine gave up. He still roots for his father though, and that is compelling to watch on screen.
Then finally, we have Ford and Ferrari. The feud between these two men in real life and the resulting competition between their companies is what has inspired the film. However, in the film, they never meet. It is Henry's marketing team that meets Enzo to cut a deal where Ford offers to buy Ferrari's company out for a prize. Ford, hopes to expand its reach beyond family-friendly cars and Ferrari is broke. Only, Enzo insults the men in suits from Ford and even calls Ford names. It is this insult that Ford is unable to overcome.
It is also this insult that pushes Ford to let Shelby have full control after the first big loss at Le Mans and the effect that an insult between competing company founders can have is in plain sight. To be honest, both Shelby and Miles turn out to be pawns in these big men's games. Clearly so at the end, when Miles is asked to slow down in the race to ensure that Ford gets a great photo op -- of three Fords placing first second and third at the Le Mans. Miles is cheated out of his victory, his hard-earned record even but as he says, it's all about the drive!
‘The Hidden Angle’ is a weekly column examining narratives, frames and sounds that add value to movies and shows but are not part of conversations surrounding their success or failure. The column will be published Fridays and we start with the Oscar 2020 hopefuls.