{"id":34416,"date":"2015-05-23T17:30:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-24T00:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34416"},"modified":"2023-09-06T20:15:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T03:15:56","slug":"olympiad-theolympia-1936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34416","title":{"rendered":"Olympiad, The\/Olympia (1936)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;For the last time, the athletes have to fight with all their might.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-34417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAthletes from around the world compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, as Adolf Hitler watches from the sidelines.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Documentary<\/li>\n<li>German Films<\/li>\n<li>Olympics<\/li>\n<li>Sports<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary argues that this &#8220;two-part film of the Berlin Olympics of 1936&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;regarded as one of the best documentaries ever made&#8221;, as well as &#8220;among the most controversial&#8221; &#8212; is &#8220;extremely disappointing&#8221;, given that &#8220;there is virtually no excitement on any event&#8221; and we &#8220;have no idea who most of the athletes are [or] what their strategies will be&#8221;. He concedes that some of the &#8220;best moments in this long, interesting, but overrated documentary&#8230; are the close-ups of the athletes&#8217; faces, the shots of cheering fans in the grandstands, and, of course the heralded [final] diving montage in which faceless, acrobatic bodies become one with the sky, air, and water&#8221;. He notes the interesting fact that &#8220;the clips we always see of [Jesse] Owens setting Olympic records (and thus disputing the Nazi myth of white supremacy) are taken from this documentary, but that [the] shot of unhappy Hitler we always see after Owens&#8217;s victories was taken from another part of the movie and&#8230; had nothing to do with his reaction to Owens&#8221;. Finally, he points out that despite being regarded as &#8220;fascistic&#8221; because &#8220;it idealizes athletes as beautifully built, superhuman figures&#8221;, Riefenstahl &#8220;gives fair coverage to events in which Germans lost&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, given its reputation as yet another propaganda-laden film by the infamous Nazi-affiliated director of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28285\"><em>Triumph of the Will<\/em> (1935)<\/a>, <em>Olympia<\/em> &#8212; officially titled <em>Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations<\/em> and <em>Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty<\/em> &#8212; comes across as surprisingly even-handed in its representation of athletes from across the globe. The primary indicators that this film was made in pre-WWII Germany are the presence of swastika-laden German flags, several collective heil-salutes, and reaction shots of Hitler and his key henchmen in the audience. Regardless of her political affiliations (which of course one shouldn&#8217;t dismiss or forget), Leni Riefenstahl was an undeniably brilliant filmmaker. Although the film is too long to enjoy in one setting, and often repetitive, I find it far from boring; Riefenstahl could have chosen a different, more personal approach to filming this material, and edited more strategically, but her decision &#8212; to show a range of incredible sporting talent and physical beauty across nations &#8212; seems defensible. One finishes this marathon, two-part documentary with an appreciation for what the Olympics are (in part, ideally) designed to do: allow gifted athletes to compete as humans while simultaneously bringing honor to their homelands. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gorgeous cinematography and direction<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"416\" height=\"320\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-34420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Cinematography.png 416w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Cinematography-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Cinematography-300x231.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px\" \/><\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>Valuable historical footage of early Olympics games set in a notorious global era<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Owens.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Owens.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"416\" height=\"320\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-34418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Owens.png 416w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Owens-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Owens-300x231.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Salutes-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Salutes-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"414\" height=\"307\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Salutes-1.png 414w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Salutes-1-300x222.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Salutes-1-128x95.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Olympia-Salutes-1-364x270.png 364w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for its historical significance and aesthetic value. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IMDb entry: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0030522\/\">Part One<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0030523\/\">Part Two<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;For the last time, the athletes have to fight with all their might.&#8221; Synopsis: Athletes from around the world compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, as Adolf Hitler watches from the sidelines. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Documentary German Films Olympics Sports Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary argues that this &#8220;two-part film of the Berlin Olympics of 1936&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;regarded as one of the best documentaries ever made&#8221;, as well as &#8220;among the most controversial&#8221; &#8212; is &#8220;extremely disappointing&#8221;, given&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34416\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34416"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91208,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34416\/revisions\/91208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}