Leni Riefenstahl

Berta Helene Amalie Riefenstahl, born August 22 1902 in Berlin, Germany, is a film maker renown for her aesthetics but controversial because of her involvement with the Nazi party.

She started her career as a dancer; in a 2002 interview she recalled that dancing was what made her truly happy. After injuring herself she attended a film and became impressed with the possibilities of the medium, and approached a local director, demanding a role in his next film. She starred in various mountain movies. When presented with the opportunity to direct Blue Light she took it; her main interest was initially in fictional films.

She heard Hitler speak at a rally in 1932 and offered her services as a filmmaker, because she was mesmerized by his powers as a public speaker. In 1933 she directed a short film about a Nazi party meeting. Then Hitler asked her to film the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg in 1934. Initially she refused, suggesting that Hitler have Walter Ruttmann film it instead. Riefenstahl later consented, and made Triumph of the Will, glorifying Hitler and widely regarded as one of the best pieces of propaganda ever produced. She went on to make a film about the German Wehrmacht.

She qualified to represent Germany in cross-country skiing in the Olympics in 1936, but elected to film the event instead. This material became Olympia, a film celebrated for its technical and aesthetical achievements.

After the war, she spent four years in a French detention camp, but in spite of her controversial role in the Third Reich, there was no evidence for crimes commited by her. There were accusations of her using concentration camp inmates on her film sets, but those claims could not be proved in court. In the end, being unable to prove any culpable support of the Nazis, the court called her a "sympathizer". In later interviews, Riefenstahl maintained that she was fascinated by the Nazis but politically naive and ignorant about their atrocities.

Riefenstahl attempted to make other films after the war, but each attempt was met with resistance, protests, and sharp criticisms; and so she has been unable to secure funding for her films. The few films she has made have been short and personally funded. As a result she became a photographer. She became interested in the Nuba tribe in Sudan and published books with photographs of the tribe in 1974 and 1976. She survived a helicopter crash in the Sudan in 2000.

In her late 70s, Riefenstahl lied about her age to get certified for scuba diving, and started a career in underwater photography. As of 2001 Riefenstahl is still in fairly good health and lives at Bavaria's "Starnberger See". She plans to release a new film titled Impressions Under Water, a documentary of life in the oceans, on her hundredth birthday, August 22 2002.

Apart from her controversial role in the Third Reich, Riefenstahl is renowned in film history for developing new aesthetics in her films, especially in relation to nude bodies, and while the propaganda in her films repulses many people, their aesthetics are nonetheless outstanding and cited by many other filmmakers.

Works:

as an actress:

as a director:

Das Blaue Licht (1932)
Der Sieg des Glaubens (1933)
Triumph des Willens(1934)
Tag der Freiheit - Unsere Wehrmacht (1935)
Olympia (1938)
Tiefland (1954)

as a photographer:

L. Riefenstahl: The Last of the Nuba. Harper, New York, 1974.
L. Riefenstahl: The People of Kau. Harper, New York, 1976.

External links:

Homepage of Leni Riefenstahl: http://leni-riefenstahl.de