Leni Riefenstahl DEAD

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Triumph of the Will is rather boring if marching bands are not your thing. All the shots of Nazi leaders ranting are a bit bizarre - they're so like comedians pretending to be Nazis you have to keep reminding yourself you're not watching The Great Dictator.

but anyway, what do you make of Hitler's favourite film-maker?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 9 September 2003 14:06 (twenty years ago) link

"Olympia" had images of cool beauty and visceral energy to spare. I found the documentary, "The Wonderful, Horrible Leni Riefenstahl"
interesting in that her explanation as to why she didn't see herself as a propagandist (she's a pure formalist) seemed completely believable from her point of view as an artist.
It's interesting that "Triumph" seemed like a parody to you since portions of it were used in the context of the "Why We Fight" series to demonize the Nazis and drum up support for the war.

― theodore fogelsanger, Tuesday, 9 September 2003 15:34 (twenty years ago) link

how far apart are riefenstahl and capra anyway?

actually capra was far more ideological than riefenstahl. "olympia" really is beautiful.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 00:05 (twenty years ago) link

Has anyone seen any of her films made about her diving experiences (she learned to scuba in her 70s and went on 200+ subsequent dives)? Opinions?

― Ryan McKay (Ryan McKay), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:38 (twenty years ago) link

i was actually meaning to start a thread to see what everyone thought of capra. i haven't seen any riefenstahl aside from about 20 minutes of "olympia" but i'm about to watch the documentary about her in my german class.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 11 September 2003 14:56 (twenty years ago) link

seventeen years pass...

The Odd Couple - Leni Riefenstahl and L. Ron Hubbard.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-untold-story-of-scientology-founder-l-ron-hubbards-secret-pact-with-nazi-propagandist-leni-riefenstahl

― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Saturday, 3 July 2021 18:05 (two years ago) link

I watched this Riefenstahl doc a few years back and in interviews from her latter years she was saying Goebbels despised her because she wasn't ever really a proper nazi. But in Goebbels dairies he slags the fuck out of everybody - even Hitler at times - but doesn't have bad word to say about her iirc. His entries on her were sort of like: "what an honour it is to have dinner with such a hugely talented and spectacular specimen of Aryan womanhood ... phwoar .. cor blimey she's quite fit as well etc.."

― MoMsnet (calzino), Saturday, 3 July 2021 19:10 (two years ago) link

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