MovieChat Forums > Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1940) Discussion > Along with Part 1 simply the most beauti...

Along with Part 1 simply the most beautiful film ever made.

posted 19 years ago by mowgli_07
5 replies | jump to latest

Absolutely stunning. No movie has ever made me cry, not even things like cinema Paradiso, Elephants man, E.T, Dumbo etc, but after this film i broke into tears. It was just such an amazing film. The cmaeras linger over the bodies of the athletes and turn them into gods. The opening torch scene is more than breathtaking. My mouth literally dropped when the film started, as right from the start it is stunning. In part two the diving scene is just so - words cant describe it. Look out for Leni Riefenstahl, at the start of part one, naked with her arms outstretched. Not really propaganda, there are some nazi salutes at the start of part 1, but thats all. The film is in English/French/German etc, depending the country you are in, as a narrator for each country was filmed for each countries print, so you can conecntrate on the stunning imagery rather than the subtitles.
Perfect movie, in my top 2 films. Unlike anything else.

[–] gernow1234 18 years ago

It's a really great movie! The way they got it filmed is fantastic! And the music in the marathon is amazing!

But there's more propaganda in it than just nazi salutes. Remember it was made just before the world war and there was a lot of Fascism in Germany at the time. And the film is made in a Fascism way! Maybe not on porpouse but it is!

In the Fascism you would try to make everything perfect, also the people. All the paintings that Van Gogh for example was rubbish in Germany at the time. They wanted straight lines and harmony all way around! And they believed that mankind was Gods, and of course they wanted the beauty in the human body.
And she got a lot of money from the propaganda minister Goebbels to make this movie because Goebbels wanted to show the world a functional and fantastic Germany was, so Leni Riefenstahl was being accused that she was 100% Fascist, unfortunately...

But I do agree with you, the movie is absolutely stunning, it's just a shame that something that beautiful was made just before WWII started, because I don't think Leni Riefenstahl was a Fascist and wanted to kind of support WWII, all she wanted was to make this stunning masterpiece!

[–] mowgli_07 17 years ago

if there wasnt the fascist climate this film wouldnt have been made though, what a travesty that would be. i mean the camera makes gods of the men, its just so so stunning, and the diving board scene by silhouette! aaaah

[–] jagaforce 17 years ago

I viewed both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1936 Berlin Olympics on YouTube. I must hand it to Leni Riefenstahl for being the cinematic genius she was, and I thought she was unfairly blamed by some for being an evil fascist, especially after the War. I think that she was truly sincere when she stated that she was only recording the "truth" as it was in Germany during her time.

Regardless of what people may think, its interesting seeing the Olympic ceremonies in black and white exactly how they appeared back in 1936. It really makes one wonder if any of those visiting delegates and athletes sensed anything sinister brewing afoot in Germany amidst all the pomp and pageantry the Nazis put on for the world at the time.

[–] morgan_gibson87 11 years ago

She herself wasn't evil. But by simply 'following orders' she helped to perpetrate the greatest evil the world has known. This is what is invoked when Hannah Arendt described Nazism - and more generally, the great evils of advanced industrial society - through the prism of the 'banality of evil'. Horrible, 'evil' people aren't what make fascism, Nazism and other horrors possible, but a banal willingness to 'follow orders'.

Critical thinking and reasoned disobedience should be praised and nurtured.

We must not check reason by tradition, but contrawise, must check tradition by reason - Leo Tolstoy

[–] 11 years ago

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