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Thursday 8.3.2001
Leni Riefenstahl haunted by the past
After World War II Leni Riefenstahl lost everything: her property, her
lifework and her reputation. Riefenstahl made her name in the 30's with
the films "Triumph of the Will" (Triumph des Willens) and "Olympia", a
two-part film on the Berlin Olympics 1936. These were the very films to
destroy her career later on. Riefenstahl was accused, and still is, of
making fascistic propaganda for the Nazis.
Leni Riefenstahl needed eighteen months to edit her two-part
film "Olympia" (Source: Salkeld, Audrey)
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From Dancer to Filmmaker
Héléne Bertha Amelie Riefenstahl, shorter Leni Riefenstahl, was born in
Berlin in 1902. In her young years she was a promising dancer, but a
knee injury forced her to give up dancing. She found her way to the
world of film as actress in Arnold Fanck's "mountain films".
Riefenstahl's did her first own feature "Das Blaue Licht" (The Blue
Light) together with Béla Balázs in 1932. The feature captures the
magnificence of nature and the mountains, and was second at the Venice
Film Festival in the same year.
Triumph of the Will
Riefenstahl saw Hitler for the first time in spring 1932 and was
impressed. A few days later she met him in person.
Already at the first
meeting Hitler announced that he wanted her to make a film for him.
According to her biography, Riefenstahl said no, because she was not
interested in politics. Riefenstahl never joined the Nazi Party either,
although she was close to the Führer.
Hitler arriving to Nürnberg
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The earlier refusal of the film projects of the Third Reich did not
help. In 1934 Riefenstahl directed a documentary on the Nazi Party
Convention in Nürnberg, named "Triumph of the Will" (Triumph des
Willens). As Riefenstahl puts it herself, she never would have wanted to
make that film, but Hitler was unyielding.
"Triumph of the Will" was chosen best film in the 30's at both the
Venice Film Festival and the Paris World Fair.
"Triumph of the Will" begins with a scene, in which Hitler arrives by
plane at Nürnburg. According to Steve Neale "the Führer descends through
the clouds from the sky like Messiah to his chosen people". As Pekka
Hyvärinen says it, "in Triumph of the Will" "the Nazism of anger and
suspicion developed to a clearly formed, desirable ideology".
After the war "Triumph of the Will" has been regarded undoubtedly as a
brilliant masterpiece, but also as openly propagandistic. Riefenstahl
has defended herself by pointing out that in the film there is no spoken
commentary, which would be essential for a propagandistic purpose.
According to Salkeld this does not change the fact that Riefenstahl
pictured Hitler and the Nazis as saviours for Germany in her film.
The 1936 Berlin Olympics
The javelin thrower concentrates (Source: Toeplitz, Jerzy)
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Leni Riefenstahl directed a two-part film named "Olympia" on the Olympic
Games in Berlin 1936. The Olympia project swallowed four years of
Riefenstahl's life and resulted in the films "Olympia I - The Festival
of the People" (Fest der Völker) and "Olympia II - The Festival of
Beauty" (Fest der Schönheit). Many cameras and much equipment were
needed to make the films. The shooting techniques and the equipment
developed rapidly, as Riefenstahl's ideas were realised.
Riefenstahl wanted to show the Olympics as a reincarnation of the
physical culture of the Antique. In the Olympia-films the athletes are
beautiful. They are cut out of their normal environment and pictured
with the magnificent and powerful nature as background.
Olympia was completed in 1938 and was received with enthusiasm in
Germany. In addition to a German film award it won the award for the
best feature film at Venice Film Festival.
Nazi or not?
War broke out in 1939. Riefenstahl started filming a fictive feature,
"Tiefland" (Lowland). However, the feature could not be finished during
the war and after it, the film was confiscated. Tiefland had its
premiere in 1954 only.
Germany lost the war and Riefenstahl was accused and trialed among the
Nazis. In addition to that the French confiscated her property.
Riefenstahl was suspected to have been Hitler's lover and she was
accused of having made skilful propaganda for the Nazis. She was not
convicted in the trials, but was labelled as a Nazi sympathiser.
To Africa and to Deep Waters
In 1956 Leni Riefenstahl travelled to Africa on her own expense to make
a film on slave trade. The journey was interrupted by a car accident
near Nairobi, in which Riefenstahl got badly injured. She recovered, but
her film on slave trade was never finished.
Leni Riefenstahl, in her 70's, photographs in Africa
(Source: Salkeld, Audrey)
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In the early 60's Riefenstahl made a second journey to Africa, this time
intending to make a film on the Nuba tribe. There was no film on the
Nuba, but instead a book of photographs. Riefenstahl's past surfaced
again, when the photographs were published. The journalist Susan Sontag,
for example, condemned the photos as examples of body worshipping and
struggle for abnormal perfection.
Leni Riefenstahl's newest interest is the underwater world. Riefenstahl
started scuba diving when she was in her 70's and she had to lie about
her age to be accepted to a diving course. She has captured rich and
colourful underwater landscapes both on photographs and on videos.
Leni Riefenstahl's life has been one long act of defence. She claims she
never was interested in politics and does not understand the political
responsibility of an artist at all. According to Riefenstahl, art should
not be bothered with so trivial matters as politics.
Loud critics see Riefenstahl as a fascist, because she always struggled
for perfect harmony and beauty. To be fair, one should remember that in
the 30's the adoration of perfect bodies and beautiful nature belonged
to the German idea of beauty in general, not only in extreme rightist
circles. Riefenstahl has lived most of her life shadowed by accusation
and shame. Could it now be time to look at her work without prejudice?
Tampere Film Festival presents:
Olympia I - The Festival of the People and Olympia II - The Festival of
Beauty on Thursday March 8th, and Triumph of the Will on Sunday, March
11th.
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