Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations

(1938)

★ 6.9 IMDb · 125 votes

Genres: Documentary

Year: 1938

Runtime: 127 мин

Country: Germany

Director: Leni Riefenstahl

Cast: David Albritton, Arvo Askola, Jack Beresford, Erwin Blask, Sulo Bärlund, Ibolya Csák, Glenn Cunningham, Henri de Baillet-Latour, Philip Edwards, Donald Finlay

Plot

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.

After being commissioned by the 1936 Olympic Committee to create a feature film of the Berlin Olympics, Riefenstahl shot a documentary that celebrates the human body by combining the poetry of bodies in motion with close-ups of athletes in the heat of competition. Includes the marathon, men's diving, and American track star Jesse Owen's sprint races at the 1936 Olympic games. The production tends to glorify the young male body and, some say, expresses the Nazi attitude toward athletic prowess. Includes the lighting of the torch at the stadium and Adolf Hitler looking on in amazement as Jesse Owens wins an unprecedented four Gold Medals.