Olympia

Rating:
Summary: Historically significant
Review: "Olympia" is a two-part documentary produced by Leni Riefenstahl, more notorious as the force behind the well-known German propaganda film "Triumph of the Will". In "Olympia", we have an arty presentation of many sporting events of the 1936 Berlin games.

The lead-in to part one consists of arty shots of architecture and statues, and we don't even get to live action for 12 minutes. There are a couple minutes of arty ballet dancing by nude women (including director Riefenstahl). It is not until 16 minutes into the film that Adolf Hitler announces the opening of the games.

We are then taken through portions of various events, nearly all of which are accompanied by big tutonic music. There is a British sportscaster who gives the details of which athlete is performing, and in part one, refers to Jesse Owens as the "American Negro". Jesse Owens' victories are perhaps the most rewarding of the events shown, as it pretty well refuted Hitler's Aryan claim to superiority in his own backyard.

Some odd things come to mind when watching the DVD. First, this takes place almost 70 years ago, so everyone in it is dead, including the prominent Nazis. Second, it is sort of quaint seeing pole vaulters using a pole that does not bend, or runners having to dig footholes in the dirt track - no blocks then, or high-jumpers using the vertical scissor-kick - almost 30 years before the Fosbury flop. Third, there were only about 50 countries participating, as compared to today's olympics with about 150 countries.

The DVD sound is horrible and includes a continual background hiss, and is a bit tinny at times. The full-screen black-and-white image is full of specks and artifacts, and seemed to glow or flicker at some points. No problem - it's old :-) If you have to have a great picture quality, try Criterion's "Tokyo Olympiad" (#155) which is similar. The DVD extras are only a few chapters and a 2-page text blurb about director Leni Riefenstahl, who died in 2003 at age 101. No subtitles or booklet, etc.

Very interesting and entertaining.