[In the following essay, Alexander discusses the significance of Riefenstahl's documentary Olympia to her career as a filmmaker.]

Actresses are always lamenting their lack of power in the film industry, citing salary inequity with male stars, superficial parts, and only one female studio head (Dawn Steele) championing their cause. Imagine what the situation was like for women in the film industry in the 1930's—and in Europe. Leni Riefenstahl was an actress and part-time filmmaker who was handpicked by Adolph Hitler to film the annual Nazi rally, a film which became the masterpiece Triumph of the Will. Riefenstahl is modest in her book, A Memoir, about the impact this film had on Germany, Hitler, and her life at the time it was shown. For Riefenstahl must have wielded a sizable influence over Hitler after envisioning him so rapturously, and so successfully, as Germany's saviour. The film's visual evangelical power ellipsed that of Hitler's sycophant inner circle which, headed by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, quickly came to despise (and possibly fear) Riefenstahl. (Ironically, Goebbels was a diminutive, sickly man with a cruel face and a crippled left leg four inches shorter than his right. Feared and unpopular, he was privately ridiculed by his Nazi colleagues and called “the malicious dwarf” and “the latest reincarnation of the devil” by the German public. However, he was slavishly devoted to Adolph Hitler.)

As a way of assessing Riefenstahl's true political power, she relates a meeting she had with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini: after seeing Triumph of the Will, Mussolini asked her to make a documentary about him.

Riefenstahl states she was only interested in acting and very reluctantly agreed to make another documentary of the 1936 Winter Olympics, being held in Germany for the first time. Hitler again persuaded her, although the worldwide acclaim Riefenstahl had received for conceiving and directing Triumph of the Will must have influenced her decision.

Haunted by the rumor she was Hitler's lover, Riefenstahl has spent a long lifetime denying any sexual liaison. Most would tend to believe her; after all, no one ever described Hitler as sexy. Yet, one is also reminded of the famous comment by Henry Kissinger about sexual allure: “Power is an aphrodisiac.”

The Chancellor assured Riefenstahl that Goebbels would not interfere and the documentary's funding would be generous. Riefenstahl began mounting an elaborate production, and also set about building herself a house in the country.

Riefenstahl's documentary, Olympia, is fascinating, especially since we are all by now very familiar with the Olympics, thanks to more than a week of intense television coverage. Yet Olympia transcends the slick overproduced extravaganza we are accustomed to. It shows the games before the onslaught of million dollar endorsements, agents, managers, advertisers, public relations and TV behemoths came aboard. By Riefenstahl's account, Hitler was not at all surprised by the gold medal outcomes, and expected it. He told her: “We have no chance of winning medals. The Americans will win most of the victories, and the Negroes will be their stars. I won't enjoy watching that. And then many foreigners will come who reject National Socialism. There could be trouble.” (Hitler had just violated the Versailles Treaty.) But then again, the entire world would be watching, so the Games began.

Olympia opens with aerial views of ancient Greek monuments, classical nude statues, and then male and female nudes. (Film historians suggest that the director herself appears in the prologue in silhouette.) So this is not merely about “The 1936 Games,” but a ritualistic tradition that honors beauty, grace, form, and physical skill.

Riefenstahl's name will always be linked with Hitler's and the American star of the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens. With Triumph of the Will, Hitler's dynamic power was perfectly served by Riefenstahl, who evidently admired him. And before Olympia, the Olympics were short newsreel items for the world. Riefenstahl elevated it to an event for the filmgoing public. Accordingly, she was internationally lionized.

Owens was a 22-year-old sharecropper's son from Alabama when he went to Germany. His winning four gold medals and breaking the current record for the 200 meters in Nazi Germany made him a worldwide hero. Yet, Jesse Owens is never singled out by Riefenstahl's camera. His victories are documented like all the others. He is merely one of the many beautiful athletic forms that her lens caresses. The entire film brings an intimacy to the games that has yet to be rivaled. The crowd of onlookers are part of the drama and their cries of joy and sadness are the film's soundtrack.

Riefenstahl was given a great deal of freedom in constructing her camera angles. She concedes that her specially-designed camera setups distracted the athletes at times. Regardless of her hindsight protests, Riefenstahl places Hitler favorably throughout, enjoying the games immensely. Hitler's refusal to shake Owens' hand after Owens had won his first event and walked out in disgust, has remained an enduring myth. The American press, commenting on the Nazi/Aryan-supremacy frenzy, declared: “HITLER SNUBS JESSE.” Actually, another black American, Cornelius Johnson, won a gold medal in the high jump the day before Owens won his first gold medal. Hitler, intentionally or simply through bad timing, left the Olympic Stadium before the medal ceremony. He didn't congratulate the American black athletes or any other non-German gold medalists. Whatever contact Riefenstahl had with Hitler during the filming of Olympia, a hasty, disgraced exit by the Fuhrer was never recorded.

Riefenstahl's patriotic love of Germany is clearly present. Her camera dwells passionately on faces in the crowd. However, with Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Riefenstahl's fate as a pariah was cast in the medium she most loved, film.