Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad, a masterpiece of poetic documentary filmmaking, is presented in its original 3-hour version. Inspired by Leni Riefenstahl's immortal coverage of the 1936 Olympics, Ichikawa endowed his documentary on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics with his profound respect for athletic dedication. “I tried to grasp the solemnity of the moment when man defies his limits,” he has said, “and to express the solitude of the athlete who, in order to win, struggles against himself. I wanted people to rediscover with astonishment that wonder which is a human being.” With 164 camera operators and a film crew of 500, Ichikawa's approach is itself olympian; every frame of Tokyo Olympiad is an exercise in film experimentation.