The Legacy of Leni Reifenstahl
All polemics aside, I’ve always been fascinated with the work of Leni Reifenstahl, particularly her later underwater photography and work with the Nuba tribe. Reifenstahl’s infamy comes from her film Triumph of the Will, commissioned by Hitler himself.
I’ve never been quite sure what to make of her as a person. Till the day she died she professed her innocence, and ignorance to Nazi crimes. She claimed (see The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl) she was just a bystander of the Third Reich, Hitler enjoyed her work, and as a matter of her own safety she was unable to refuse his demands. These claims are widely disputed, particularly whether she was involved in the shooting of 30 Polish civilians, and the possible use of detention camp inmates as slave labor.
MediaBistro has a small write up on Stephen Bach and his thoughts, whose book Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl is on my reading list. I’m hoping it can shed some insight into the real woman behind the work and her agendas.
I’ve always been similarly fascinated/horrified by her. I heard that Jodie Foster has been working to get the rights to play Leni in a film … not sure how that would turn out, if it ever does.
I read that somewhere also. In watching that movie she seems like this genuis artist. She pioneered a certain kind of filmstock (don’t know much about photography so I can’t elaborate) and hand edited all of her movies. At 93 she got her scuba certification, lying about her age and managing to pass for 50. So it’s hard to look at someone so creative and intriguing and believe they’ve done terrible things, but her own defenses/excuses are fairly weak at best. I don’t know if we’ll ever know if she’s just a scapegoat or something more sinister.