my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Leni Riefenstahl is dead (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Leni Riefenstahl is dead Christian Appelt Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 505 From: Frankfurt, Germany Registered: Dec 2001 posted 09-13-2003 12:15 PM                     I talked with two film students last night, and you wouldn`t believe how brainwashed some people can get. They had swallowed all the lies about being "unpolitical", just wanting to "live for art`s sake" and whatever the Nazi propaganda artists used as excuses after the war. "Leni Riefenstahl was no real Nazi", one of the students said, "otherwise they wouldn`t admire her in the United States and Japan". The whole Nazi movement was fueled by fanaticism and distilled negative emotions. Look at the Reichsparteitag film (Triumph des Willens), and remember that this is the poison of chauvinism, hysteria and xenophobia that made possible what happened later. Riefenstahl certainly was not dumb, and she knew very well what she was doing. She didn`t commit murder, but she was important in mixing the poisonous brew that Hitler and Goebbels fed to the German people. I do not believe in capital punisment in times of peace, but if you ask me what I would have considered just, Riefenstahl should have had to answer at the Nuremberg trials. It did not happen, so instead of being hanged for constructing such "beautiful" propaganda, using gypsies from the concentration camp as extras for her film "Tiefland", Ms. Riefenstahl lived a long life and was ultimately free to practise her craft. Back to these two film students: they didn`t like the idea of personal guilt, so they changed the theme: "Riefenstahl was one of the first important woman filmmakers", so she should be honored. When I told them that most great film editors and many screenwriters were women before Ms. Riefenstahl even knew how to heil the Fuehrer, they said this was typical, a case of successful-woman-bashing. "She always was a pariah while Veit Harlan went almost unharmed", was their next argument. Well, director Veit Harlan DID "Jud Suess", but at least he tried after the war to take the responsibility, he didn`t blame dead Nazis. I saw that the discussion went nowhere because these people didn`t like the idea of guilt and they did not know the facts. Some people have fallen in love with the idea of an "unpolitical, naive woman filmmaker with great visual talent", and nothing, be it fact or moral question, can penetrate that protective image which Ms. Reiefnstahl spent creating during the last half century.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-13-2003 01:54 PM                     I don't believe in mixing politics and film history togather as it gets far to convoluted. To flip the tables if Germany had one they probably then should have tried Frank Capra for his "Why we fight" propaganda films  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 09-13-2003 02:12 PM                        Indeed there should be no mixup of politics and art. But in extreme situations like in dictatorships there is no way to avoid that. Everybody understood that very well during the NS period. It wasn`t like "oh, uh, yes, there happened to be racial laws and deportations and lots of other repressive measures, and a world war, and now that you mention it, I should have noticed really, but I somewhow didn`t" - everybody could see what was going on, at least to a certain extent. During that period, it was practically impossible to be unpolitic, especially for people in the public light.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 09-13-2003 03:08 PM                    Huh? She made a film of goosestepping Nazis and for that she should be tried, maybe executed? Did I miss something, some other crime? Imprison or execute someone for a film about a bunch of bozos marching with flags? Oh wait...it's because it might promote war or hatred, right? Well good thing John Wayne is already in the ground or he'd be awaiting trial in The Hague, right? No? Oh right...propaganda like The Green Berets is okay because...well...because he's on our side and we are making the rules. I guess the principles of free speech extend only to Americans or to those who promote images you agree with. This sort of thinking is just as disgusting as anything Leni did.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 09-14-2003 04:07 AM                        A lot of people left Germany because there was no freedom of speech anymore during the NS period while less talented people made big careers supporting the regime. It plays no role if her films were actively promoting hatred or just showing blond girls at athletics. We are not talking about content but the fact that she was an active supporter of the dictatorship and gained a lot from her support and then after the war refused to reflect on her role. That is actually the worst kind of character. Some of the Nazis at least stuck with their convictions and took the consequences. Others actually reflected on what had happened and what their role had been, like Albert Speer.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.