I rather like Leni Riefenstahl.
There's a documentary about her life called The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl. It's very good.
I feel that she embraced her opportunities and was excited by the rise of the Nazis without being too bothered by what they really stood for, or caring very much about what they were really doing. She used her creativity to make things she admired look beautiful on film. Unfortunately she admired the Nazis and made them look beautiful and powerful on film. In hindsight she probably wished she hadn't.
When she talks about Triumph of the Will in the documentary the only time she is really animated is when she is in the editing room explaining how the movie was made, showing her clever editing, and the techniques she used to make something quite dull (loads of people standing around) look good.
Still, it's a difficult ethical point, and you can never entirely let her off. Leni was clearly a person interested in documenting power and the body, in that she is not alone as an artist, but somehow it doesn't quite feel comfortable when the artist makes murderous ideas look good.
4 comments:
I love the scene in the documentary where she's browbeating the director about where to put his camera and how to light and frame his shot; it reminded me of the stories of Orson Welles strolling onto the set of 'The Third Man' and thundering at Carol Reed: 'You're putting the camera there?
My penis looks bent.
R (of RBB)
Hey, I was joking about the bent penis thing? What you don't believe me? What a bunch of bloody Nazis!!!
R (of RB Nazi B)
Dear Richard of Richard's Bullshit Bag,
What?
Danyl:
And my other favourite scene is her truly awful dancing from the dawn of her career. It was this lakeside frolic that caught Hitler's eye.
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