Leni Riefenstahl dies at 101; Known for Nazi Era Propoganda Films

AP

[sonsofliberty2000]

BERLIN (AP) Leni Riefenstahl, best known for her Nazi-era propaganda films, has died at age 101, a German magazine reports, quoting a long-time friend.

[sonsofliberty2000]

New on Patriot Paradox: Interview with Chewed Gum

[At _War_With_Liberals]

An inspiration to Liberals.

[babble-on]

Farewell you Nazi slut

[sonsofliberty2000]

For those who do not have a clue as to who she is: From Art and Culture Network re the leftist slant:

The film touted by critics as the most powerful propaganda piece ever was created for the Nazis -- it was also made by a woman. The bold and beautiful Leni Riefenstahl got her start as a ballet dancer in pre-war Berlin. When she saw an early Arnold Fanck film on mountaineering, she was literally swept away by its motion and energy. Soon she was acting in Fanck's films and learning to become a skilled mountaineer -- she even allowed two avalanches to fall on her head in the name of art. In 1932 she directed, produced, and starred in "Das Blaue Licht" ("The Blue Light"), a romantic film with Wagnerian undertones that is set in a fairytale landscape. Riefenstahl was meticulous in her work, planning shots to the letter, focusing intensely on picture quality, and editing in unusual rhythms appropriate to the subject. She also filmed on real locations instead of studio sets. She has called her acting in the role of Junta, a beautiful witch who is both hated and loved by the townspeople, a "premonition" of her own destiny: both women would face a shattering loss of their youthful ideals.

Riefenstahl, who was never a member of the Nazi Party, found favor with Hitler and was enlisted to make a film of the 1934 Nuremburg Party Convention. The result was "Triumph of the Will." Riefenstahl has since called it a "pact with the devil," but at the time she gave it the very best of her considerable talents. She employed 30 cameras and 120 assistants in the filming, inventing unprecedented techniques, such as hoisting a camera up a flagpole so it could shoot over an enormous crowd. Dramatic intensity, traveling shots (the crew filmed on roller skates), and creative camera positions characterize the film. Riefenstahl spent five months editing the film for 10 to 20 hours each day, treating it "like a musical composition." It won numerous awards, including a gold medal at the Venice Film Festival.

"Olympia" followed -- another incredibly beautiful documentary which covered the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The work was acclaimed in America as one of the world's ten best films. A tribute to the idealized human body, it took her two years to edit. Again, she employed brilliantly inventive techniques: digging pits to film athletes from below, attaching a small camera to a balloon for aerial shots. After "Olympia," Riefenstahl was sent to Poland to photograph the German invasion. However, she was so horrified by the atrocities she witnessed, she filed an official complaint and left immediately. She vehemently denies accusations that she used gypsy concentration camp inmates for her 1940 film "Tiefland."

In the aftermath of World War II, both the Americans and the French imprisoned Riefenstahl for her role in the Nazi propaganda machine. She never made another film, though she was released after four years. In 1994 a documentary film about her appeared with the title "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl." The remarkably lucid 90-year-old Riefenstahl describes her filmmaking techniques and defends herself against the harsh accusations that have hounded her throughout her life. Riefenstahl claims she was essentially ignorant of inhumane Nazi activities -- for her, art and politics were two separate things. One significant question has been recently raised: why were male artists who tolerated or even supported Hitler -- including Salvador Dali, G.W. Pabst, and Céline -- able to successfully revive their careers, while Riefenstahl was not?

But Riefenstahl was not to be entirely repressed. At the age of 60, she went alone to Africa to live with the Nuba tribe for eight months. A book of the resulting photographs was published in 1973. At 70, she passed a scuba diving test and embarked for the next several decades on an entirely new career of underwater filming -- becoming possibly the oldest diver in the world.

New on Patriot Paradox: Interview with Chewed Gum

[CasearianDaoist]

You watch, there will no doubt be a flattering little documentatry made by the usual suspects for PBS.

The subtext will be "great female artist subverted by Western Patriachy." They will talk about how wonderful her work is, absolve her of all moral responsibility in the process.

[Junior]

"The Man from Hope" has been favorably compared to "Triumph of the Will."

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"You watch, there will no doubt be a flattering little documentatry made by the usual suspects for PBS. "

Funny you say that. PBS on Sunday had a Nazi prop movie special on. Pretty positive.

[CatoRenasci]

Leni Riefenstahl was a very great film director, whose work served an evil regime. Likewise, the great Russian director Sergei Eisenstein's work served the evil Soviet regime. His work is praised, hers less so.

Those who knew Riefenstahl with whom I am acquainted alwasy maintained she wasn't really a Nazi, and I think she has had something of a bad rap.

The full version of Triumph of the Will in German is still, with her Olympia among the very greatest of films.

It's curious that some of the greatest early films, still revered to day, were propaganda pieces: Birth of a Nation, Triumph of the Will, Battleship Potemkin, Grand Illusion, The Great Dictator.

[IronJack]

Say what you want, Triumph of the Will is one of the most powerful uses of the film medium in existence. Riefenstahl used her incredible talents in the service of evil, of that there is little doubt. But there is equally little doubt of her talent.

[Moose4]

A remarkable woman. She had the potential to be one of the best film directors in the world had she not hitched her star to Hitler--then again, in 1930s Germany, that was the only way she could act and direct. The Nazis so tightly regimented culture that they controlled the cinema with an iron fist.

Besides, anybody who's going SCUBA diving and making underwater films in her freaking NINETIES has got to get some respect. :)

}:-)4

[Puppage]

[Dirk McQuickly]

Frank Capra once related how he watched Triumph of the Will when embarking on his "Why We Fight" series, and that it scared the bejeezers out of him because it made the Nazis look invincible. All one has to do is watch all of Hitler's adoring citizenry to understand the grip that fascism had on the psyche of that nation -- a huge lesson in why America needs to be wary of the Clintons and their ilk. Evil leadership is poison.

[sonsofliberty2000]

I have no doubt of her prowess of fim making talent. I only hate the way she used it. Some left Nazi Germany and used their talent elsewhere, ie Einstein, Ernest Chain (who worked with Fleming on Penicillin), Max Perutz (Nobel Prize winner for work on haemoglobin) Edward Teller(managed Los Alamos research on the hydrogen bomb), and Hans Bethe(Nobel Prize for discovery of the reactions which supply the energy in the stars) to name a few.

[Skooz]

"The Man from Hope" has been favorably compared to "Triumph of the Will."

You've got to be kidding.

[FreeAtlanta]

Isn't he Moore's mentor?

[FreeAtlanta]

oops, wasn't she Moore's mentor? Actually, I doubt Moore would take guidence from a women. Liberals are hypocrits and I don't picture Moore as someone who respects women. JMO

[meg70]

Jodie Foster is doing a movie of her life, I believe.

[sticker]

Leni Riefenstahl was one of the most talented directors ever. The only talent Moore has is selfpromotion, the jerk couldn't make decent film if his life depended on it.

[veronica]

Riefenstahl used her incredible talents in the service of evil, of that there is little doubt.

Exactly right. And her "talent" will forever be tarnished by the fact that she served to promote the agenda of one of the monsters of men, hence she has the blood of thousands and thousands on her hands. I am sure she's boiling in Hell, as we speak. :)

[ffusco]

Leni was an amoral artist who happily produced films for her hero, Adolf. While she was skilled at her craft, she was also completely unable to recognize her pact with evil ( much like Speer, the architect for the regime)

They should have hung that Nazi b*tch 60 years ago.