The Films of Leni Riefenstahl by Hinton David B.;

Author:Hinton, David B.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2000-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Several important film critics make the accusation that Olympia is Nazi propaganda, but their conclusions are often arguable. References are made to the presence of Hitler in the film, such as Susan Sontag’s observation of the games as being “all under the gaze of the benign Super-Spectator, Hitler, whose presence in the stadium consecrates this effort.”12 However, Hitler is only shown a few times in the film. The only major section that does feature Hitler is his official opening of the games, filmed in a straightforward documentary manner. Riefenstahl claims that she gives Hitler the same treatment she would have if the games had been held in Moscow and the opening done by Joseph Stalin, and certainly some of the shots, particularly those of Göring, show the Nazi leaders in clowning and far-from-inspiring poses as their emotions get the better of their self-control.

A more sympathetic interpretation suggests that the true hero of the film is not Adolf Hitler but the black–American athlete Jesse Owens. It is Owens’s presence that dominates the first part of Olympia, and Riefenstahl gives his athletic triumphs the full cinematic coverage they deserved rather than downplaying them in the name of Nazi racial ideology. Riefenstahl additionally maintains that Propaganda Chief Goebbels ordered her to delete the footage of Owens, and when she refused, he temporarily placed sanctions on her film company.

Riefenstahl stresses the international nature of the Olympic competition. Her concern is with the athletes as individuals, and there seems to be no touting of the Germans as members of a “master race,” as would be expected if the film were purely Nazi propaganda. Although the Nazi flag was the dominant flag of Triumph of the Will, it is the International Olympics flags and not the German flag, that dominates Olympia. As one critic has observed, Olympia can be seen as a complete reversal, if not a refutation, of what was shown in Triumph of the Will. At the end of Triumph of the Will the Nazi standards representing the various regions of Germany are paraded into the Kongresshalle, a visual symbolization of the unity of the German state; but in Olympia, the ending shows the national flags dissolving into the Olympics flag as the international spirit triumphs over national feelings.13

Other critics have observed that in stressing the competitiveness of the events and glorifying the superhuman feats of strength—the “triumph of the will” needed to win in the fierce Olympic competition—Riefenstahl reflects the spirit of fascism. This view seems as much to question the nature of sports events in general and the Olympics in particular as it does Riefenstahl and her film. Equating competitiveness with fascism may be a risky critical assumption.

A question often asked is why Riefenstahl didn’t film the 1938 Winter Olympics as well. The answer is that these games were appropriated by Goebbels and his propaganda ministry, who wanted to make sure that at least one Nazi film was made of the Olympic Games. A considerable number of cameramen from Riefenstahl’s Olympic crew were requisitioned by the ministry.

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