Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty

This is the one to watch, Riefenstahl's masterpiece. Das Blaue Licht is great but dares less. You know about Triumph; people being choreographed to embody a new identity, destructive and all that.

Olympia Part I had moments of beauty but it was constrained in key ways. It was constrained by Hitler being there. By nations parading and saluting. You could not fail to note that all of it, much more subtle than Triumph, in the end impressed as a show staged to promote a German image, much more subtle because the image was of normalcy and spontaneous celebration.

This is a different thing. You probably know that Riefenstahl was a dancer before making her transition to film, you can see her dance in one of her first films as an actress. All of her own films are about choreographed sculpted form, but this is the one most purely about cinematic dance and the body.

Eisenstein filmed active crowds in radical collision that creates a world (now his devices are every bit as commonplace as Riefenstahl's but in a different milieu). She films crowds as cheerful observers of vigor. Most of all, she films the body as the fulcrum of harmonious expression that seduces the camera that seduces us seeing and being affected by this. It doesn't matter if the world is changed, or maybe she trusted that it had a few years back, it only matters that the soul - theirs at the moment, ours cinematically - can brush against the heavens.

Each sport is a framework that dictates its own dance. Each dance is slightly different and calls for a different camera. The body is free but within confines of the sport. The camera is similarly free to draw its dynamic calligraphy within edges of the frame.

In the regatta for instance, white sails group and re-group in swanlike formations and contrast with sailors throwing their weight around the boats and pulling ropes. Cyclists and rowers pass one the other in horizontal forward-dashing and overlap. Boxers are locked in gristly tango. Horse-riders glide over mud as though skating inches above-ground. The gymnastics are all about eddy and suspension in mid-air. In the polo sequence, the dance is all between tracing the zigzag flow of the game and Kurosawa-like whip-pans of the riders smashing against vertical beams in the far background. Other sequences like swimming and football are less interesting.

Above all, of course, stand the celebrated divers. You can tell that Riefenstahl loved them (she counted an Olympic medalist diver among her lovers) by how imaginatively she filmed this bit and saving it for last. This notion is never more clear, of a camera that dances with and decides the weight of its partner. She achieves here pure weightlessness.

In light of this, the closing ceremony of fire and celestial light - now common tropes of Olympic shows - is on top of ludicrous simply redundant. Her explicit bits of Wagnerian worldview are the least interesting of her work, always were. Yes, Nazis must have been enormously pleased by her artistry of transcendent sensuality. It still looks dull-witted and overwrought.

On the flipside of that is her floating calligraphic eye that was unparalleled at this time.

***warning: spoliers (of a sort)*** This is certainly the better of the two Olympia films, as others have noted, though some sequences are more interesting than others. Gymnastics gets its turn - not surprising, as Riefenstal trained as a gymnast - as do equestrian events, all-too- brief coverage of cycling, and a few too many yachts. This is the film with the diving, as others have noted, and it is not possible to overstate how brilliantly edited that sequence is.

That sequence, along with the gymnastics which open the film, is the heart of "Olympia"'s rather complex connection with Nazi ideology. Watch these sequences, and notice how the athletes' connection with the ground is removed. The extreme slow motion and rhythmic editing take this beyond a celebration of beauty; it is a celebration of transcendence, the creation of an image of man larger than the world. The diving sequence at the end disolves into an idealized vision of Speer's Cathedral of Light, and the film ends with clouds, flags, flame, and a ladder of lights that pierces the sky. Together with Windt's underrated score, this film is one of the best examples of German Romanticism ever created. That idealization and transcendence, the piercing of matter to get at the spirit behind it, *was* a component of Nazi ideology, and Riefenstahl, who was not a member of the party (and, to be fair, seems to have been repelled by the Nazi's racism) was a fellow Romantic.

Is it worth seeing today? Undoubtedly so, if only to see where modern sports coverage got its start. Think about those more complex connections, though.

For the most part, this is just a continuation of the first part of "Olympia"--a documentary about the 1936 Berlin Olympics made by the notorious Leni Reifenstahl. Unlike her slobbering lover letter to Hitler in "Triumph of the Will", the "Olympia" films are NOT filled with German propaganda but are incredibly artistic films. They are filled with some of the best camera-work you'll ever see--and put more modern Olympic documentaries to shame in this regard. The films are gorgeous.

The film begins with a lot of nudity--just like "Part One". This time, it's full of naked men doing all sorts of outdoorsy things--swimming, lounging, running and hanging out in the sauna. While it was not intended, there sure seemed to be a strong homo-erotic quality about it. But I assume the real purpose was to show an idealized view of modern Germans--like they are descendants of the original Greek athletes. Regardless, it's a lot of naked blond men cavorting about...artistically.

Like "Part One", following this very artsy beginning, the rest of the film is a straight documentary showing the various Summer Olympic events. In all cases, the camera-work was brilliant. But the ones that REALLY struck me were the yachting scenes. How Riefenstahl and her crew did these shots is a mystery. I THINK they tagged along in boats and shot some of the scenes with a telephoto lens. Others, I suspect, were re-created for the film to give it added close-up realism. Regardless, the camera shots were amazing.

Unfortunately, however, like "Part One", the film got VERY dull because just showing event after event got tedious--especially since the viewers have no idea who any of these folks are and the events occurred 73 years ago. Of course it looked great and was supremely composed...but still kind of dull. My feeling is that if you are a film snob, cinemaniac or appreciate art films, watch this and the first installment. Others might just find it a tough viewing.

By the way--get a load of the gymnastic events. First, the participants were only men. Second, they all performed outdoors! Interesting how times have changed!

If this film was never made, the current camera movements and angles we see today on television would probably never exist. Given unquestionable freedom, Leni Riefenstahl created a film which is bold in composition and visual aptitude. The motions of athleticism are caught beautifully, especially the diving sequence and the running sequences. While many will say Riefenstahl was a pro-Nazi film maker, one cannot deny the innovation she instilled in the art of film making. If you can take the near 4-hour running time and the fact there is no dialogue in the film, then experience this film for the power and breathtaking visuals, not the supposed pro-Nazi agenda.

Olympia 2 (1938)

**** (out of 4)

The second part of Riefenstahl's documents of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I enjoyed this "sequel" a little less than the first film but that's not to say this one here isn't among the greatest films out there. The brilliant cinematography and editing are still here but the focus on the sports is quite differently. The first film mainly focused on track and field but this one goes for a wider range of events including a cross country trip, which ends with the runners falling from exhaustion. Also on display are gymnastics, which contain perhaps the greatest visuals of either film and perhaps the greatest of any film. I've watched gymnastics on various sports channels including ESPN and after watching this movie all I can say is that these people really need to study what's on display here. It's rather amazing at how brilliant this stuff looks compared to today and especially all the slow-motion treats, which really capture and show how incredibly skilled these athletes are. Diving, swimming, decathlon, field hockey and shooting are also on display here. The incredible beauty of this film makes it seem like all the shots were rehearsed and even the action was staged but of course this isn't true and this here just makes the film shine even more. All the controversy that has surrounded Riefenstahl is certainly wanted but it's a shame that this takes away from her incredible gift as a director. I always say ones personal life shouldn't come between the art and here is another stunning example of that.