With the 2004 Games upon us, attention turns to Athens this week and thoughts of past Olympics, which brings back images from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Although the Olympic ideal has always promoted peace and understanding through rigorous competition, the Games have always been tainted by overt nationalism and politics—never more so than in 1936 when Adolph Hitler sought to prove Aryan superiority by dominating the competition. By winning a total of 89 medals to 56 for the U.S., Germany did establish themselves as the most athletic of the 49 participating countries, but black athlete Jesse Owens turned out to be the real star of the Games, pointedly overshadowing Germany's agenda when Hitler deliberately snubbed the famous sprinter/long jumper at the medal ceremonies.

To showcase fascist ideology, Hitler commissioned Berlin native Leni Riefenstahl to film the Games, believing that Germany would prove dominant and that the film could serve as effective propaganda on the world scene. Providing an unprecedented wealth of resources, Hitler made an offer Riefenstahl couldn't refuse.

Contrary to Fritz Lang's decision to flee Germany immediately when Heinrich Himmler offered government funding to make their films, controversial filmmaker Riefenstahl is best known staying and directing the definitive propaganda film Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) , a documentary that won awards and artistic acclaim in the mid 1930's but destroyed her career after the war. Riefenstahl's second most famous film records the events of the 1936 Olympic Games—Olympia, Parts I and II. Unfairly condemned by many for promoting Nazi ideals, the landmark film breaks new ground with its artistic views of world class athletes, most notably in sequences that capture the movement of beautiful human bodies to perfection.

With over 4,000 athletes participating in 19 sports, the 1936 Olympic Games scheduled 129 events at various venues, so capturing the Games on film required extensive pre-production planning. Well before the Games, Riefenstahl meticulously mapped out her camera angles and instructed over 45 cameramen about her visual concepts. To get the desired low angle shots of gymnasts, high jumpers, and pole vaulters, Riefenstahl instructed workmen to dig out strategically place bunkers below the track surface.

The diving event provided a natural setting for her most dynamic sequences of twisting torsos sailing through the air that wind up Part II (Festival of Beauty) . A combination of overhead cameras, telephoto lens, underwater cameras, and slow motion cameras create an unforgettable flourish for the film's finale. These are the groundbreaking moments most often viewed in film classes since they illustrate the energetic editing and creative camera angles that are now universally sought in the industry. Despite the fact that Tokyo Olympiad may now rank as a better overall film, Kon Ichikawa clearly borrows heavily from Riefenstahl's original work!

Although the majority of coverage (especially in Part I) remains mundane Wide World of Sports style with fixed wide-angled camera following events with a tiresome narrator highlighting the medal results, the two part film soars when Riefenstahl's artistry peeks through.. One residual effect is the now traditional torch relay originating from Olympia, Greece that ends in a striking ceremony at the host stadium. This all began in 1936 at Riefenstahl's insistence for the sake of her film, as Part I (Festival of the Nations) begins with a series of dissolves among the ruins as a nude male runner carries the torch forward. Both parts open remarkably with homages to athletic human bodies, whether twirling the discus or silently completing an early morning run along the river before a full body massage. These silent sequences along with the magnificent closing montage mark the best moments of the documentary that value human beauty much more than the results. Of course some claim that this promotes Nazi ideals, but such claims are founded far more on Riefenstahl's history than on the actual content. Such charges would never occur had Olympia been produced by a non-German director.

Those who want to believe that this landmark documentary serves primarily as propaganda ignore Riefenstahl's more universal vision. Certainly she covers a number a German successes during the routine portions of the film, but objective viewers will be pleasantly surprised at the even-handed coverage. Part I is more historically interesting for numerous shots of der Fuehrer and chilling Fascist salutes, but Riefenstahl also captures Hitler is less than flattering circumstances—his looks of disgust when the dominating German women relay team drops the baton and when Jesse Owens wins a race. In fact, had Riefenstahl really desired to stick to the program, she never would have allotted so much coverage to Owens at all!

Truly an uneven film that often appears like the patchwork of various filmmakers that it is, Olympia won't entertain all audiences, as most will find the majority of the 3 ½ hour two-part documentary routine. Sports fans will find most of the highlight clips familiar since ESPN News uses much the same format, and they will appreciate the extended coverage of the marathon and equestrian steeplechase (that contains some great slapstick type moments of dumped riders into ponds and ditches). Film aficionados will find certain notable sequences exhilarating, and will long for the day that Criterion Collection comes through with a rumored DVD release that will supply additional background material and give more control over the scenes to view.