TORONTO – Lamborghini loyalists have etched into their repertoire of Ferrari jabs the famous words of Frank Sinatra: “You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody. You buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody”. It’s probably no coincidence that Sinatra also said, “the best revenge is great success” – an adage that fits the Lamborghini/Ferrari mythos as well as any. Referencing of course the alleged insult Enzo Ferrari hurled at Ferruccio Lamborghini before the latter dedicated himself to building “a GT car without faults, the perfect car”. 

Ferruccio, a mechanic by trade, had eventually founded [in the 1950s] Lamborghini Trattori, manufacturing low cost and robust tractors. Being a car enthusiast and having amassed enough wealth from the tractor business, he indulged in high-end cars: Maserati, Alfa-Romeo, Jaguar, Mercedes and yes, Ferrari. What he noticed in his Ferraris was a bad clutch. Valentino Balboni (an original Lamborghini test driver) tells the story that Lamborghini’s head mechanic discovered Ferrari was charging 1,000 lire for the same 10 lire clutch Lamborghini used in its tractors. Ferruccio allegedly poured this vinegar into Enzo’s ear and the rest was history.

Their rivalry and decades of an auto engineering tug-of-war between Italy’s two legendary supercars has finally made the big screen – and now small screen as Netflix just added the 2022 Lamborghini film to its catalogue this week.

“Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend” was directed by Robert Moresco, whose previous work includes co-writing “Crash” (2004) with Paul Haggis, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. After presenting at Rome’s Film Festival two years ago however, Moresco’s Lamborghini film was almost universally panned by critics and car enthusiasts – on both sides.

In Moresco’s film, inspired by the Tonino Lamborghini’s (Ferruccio’s son) biographical book “Ferruccio Lamborghini: The Official Story”, a churlish Enzo Ferrari is reduced to a few scenes where he’s shown up by Ferruccio. Not the best way to win over critics who love Ferraris. Similarly, Lamborghini devotees had their own expectations somewhat pulverized by huge leaps in timelines and story details. But most importantly, fans of both cars wanted to see more rubber meeting the road – in that the actual cars were scarcely filmed.

The film, while not exactly meeting expectations, was hard done by its 6% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For perspective, in that in the same year “The Woman King”, a film about a group of female warriors protecting the African Kingdom of Dahomey, earned a 94% rating from critics – despite sanitizing the full story of Dahomey’s relationship to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Not a minor detail.

Both films have merit and both should be watched, in spite of the criticisms. In a $40 billion a year industry, critics can wield a lot of power. Ferruccio Lamborghini once said, “A Lamborghini has to be beautiful, fast, comfortable, luxurious and fun to drive. It has to be the best GT ever made”. Perhaps by that standard, Moresco’s film falls short. But it’s still more enjoyable than most things you’ll watch on Netflix.

Watch Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend on Netflix

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate Films     

Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix