Documentary Movie Reviews

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Olympia (1938)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 6/14

Olymp
6/14: After watching the two parts of Olympia (in German, Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit) by Leni Riefenstahl, I can safely say I've seen more footage of the 1936 Berlin's Olympics Games than all of the Olympics Games combined from the last twenty-five years.

It's surprising to see how little, except for the brazen cheating, bribery, and corruption, has changed since then. Although there are a multitude of powerful, moving images in both parts, longueurs abound in between. It's somewhat a back-and-forth challenge of getting through the documentary.

No matter what, it's still an important historical piece of work that captures a period of time. To choose, I like the second part more even though the first has some footage of Jesse Owens. I'm still amazed how they did the high jump and the pole vault events. There's no landing pad, either! Looking at the people in the stands, they were well-dressed for a sporting event.

On the other hand, from a technical standpoint, Leni Riefenstahl was way ahead of her time, implementing many stylistic shots that are revolutionary and incomparable. This alone is the reason why Olympia is a must-see. There's no slant or bigotry for a moment.

All in all, Olympia is a great cinematic experience.