Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations

1938 [GERMAN]

Documentary / Sport

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 9 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.7/10 10 5666 5.7K

nazi sports olympic games national socialism national socialist party beauty

Plot summary

Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

Director

Leni Riefenstahl Photo
Leni Riefenstahl

Top cast

Adolf Hitler Photo
Adolf Hitler as Self - Declares Games Open
Hermann Göring Photo
Hermann Göring as Self - Spectator
Rudolf Hess Photo
Rudolf Hess as Self - Stands with Hitler
Julius Schaub Photo
Julius Schaub as Self - Spectator, with Glasses, Behind Hitler
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.14 GB
986*720
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 7 min
Seeds 3
2.12 GB
1480*1080
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 7 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by bullfrog-5 9 / 10

Is beauty propaganda?

I've read that this film, which portrays human beauty and athletic success, serves to justify euthanasia of the weak and infirm. If so, does not Da Vinci's David do the same?My belief is that without the historical context, there would not be a single viewer who would suggest that this is propaganda fostered to support the atrocities of the Nazi Regime. As another reviewer suggests: this is no better than an NFL highlight film.Actually, this is better than an NFL highlight film. Highlight films focus only on isolated moments of peak action. Do most of us prefer to just see the winning basket or the last touchdown? It's the game, the show, the story which gives us pleasure - not just the ending or spectacular feat.The beauty of this film and its companion lies in its crafting. The lighting, the camera angles, the sequencing, the pace - everything is blended to produce a thing of beauty. It's like the chef who creates a feast with the same ingredients we manage to render a barely palatable meal. Leni produces a feast - a beautiful feast!
Reviewed by chrisburin 9 / 10

Highly original for its time, great use of camerawork

This is a brilliant sports documentary - the experimentation with camera angles was revolutionary at the time and the pole vault sequence at night is one of my favourite sequences in a film ever. The athletes are portrayed as superhuman, so in this sense the film is elitist and Nietzschean, but this is certainly not a racist film, politics does not play an explicit role, although one could argue that the deification of athletes (they are shown in close-up, alone, to contrast with the watching masses) promotes the idea that some men are greater than others. A fascinating film, and a definite progression from the standard documentary format of Das Triumph des Willens.
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