|
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Our Leni..., March 20, 2004
...was just using the wrong men. And it is definitely not her fault that she lived
in these times.I also believed for a long time that Riefenstahl produced propaganda movies for
the Nazis including hate speeches and incitation to aggressive wars. But everybody
who has seen her notorious movie "Triumph of the Will" knows that there Hitler preaches:
"We want that this nation will be peace-loving but also brave, thats why you must be
peaceful". Therefore the french government awarded this movie a "Grand Prix" during
the world fair 1937 in Paris. And seven trials, one american, two french and four german, revealed that she was
never member of any Nazi organisation. To those, who still continue bashing Leni
Riefenstahl, I just want to say that they also cannot forsee the future. And they are
also incapable of remote viewing what happens in some concentration camps hundreds of
miles away, which were, as everybody knows, not accessible to the public. This book is as fascinating as her olympic movies. Although I like to go to bed very
early I could not stop reading before 3:00 am. During breakfast I had to continue
reading. It shows clearly that Riefenstahl was an extraordinary strong personality.
Thats why she never gave excuses for crimes that she never commited, although a lot of
pressure was put on her in that direction. For this I tribute her lots of respect.
I am pretty much more concerned about those germans with weak moral, which believed
in the past to be a member of a superior race, while today they feel guilty
for crimes that they never commited, because they were not alive those times.
What kind of madness will originate from these delicate personalities in the future?
Another aspect: through Riefenstahls eyes it becomes discernible that the Nazi leaders
were a bizarre clique of gamblers and bohemiens. But those, who read in between the lines of her memoirs, realize that Leni Riefenstahl
had not only an extremly strong will but also narcissistic traces in her character.
As a young girl she wanted to be admired as a dancer. Concerning men she decided to
control them always. Whenever necessary she twisted them around her little finger
and used them for her ambitions as an artist, which were the main motor of her live.
But her movies demonstrate clearly that she had a positive attitude towards men. Everybody, who experienced as a forty year old man that a hundred year old lady
appeared to him interesting as a woman believes the following episode of her memoirs.
He also knows how she made it. 1936, in the olympic stadium, seen by all the
spectators, the winner of the decathlon Morris (USA) opened her shirt and kissed her
breast. Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels wanted to throw her out of the stadium
because of her scandalous behavior. This is typical of Riefenstahl: the king of
athlets must be captivated in the public and no thought about the consequences. In german newspapers there are still rumours from hearsay that around 1937 Riefenstahl
confessed, Hitler has been kneeling in front of her and was asking her with wet hands
for marriage. But without these properties Riefenstahl would have never become the most
ingenious female movie maker of the 20th century. And which man was able to match her? Absolutley: this is a five star book. But one star I withdraw from Leni Riefenstahl as
a sign of solidarity with some of the men she used. For instance the ingenious pioneer
of mountain movies and avantgardistic nature movie maker Dr. Arnold Fanck, the creator of
the breathtaking silent film "The white hell of Piz Palu".
|
by Steven Bach
DVD ~ Marlene Dietrich
DVD ~ Leni Riefenstahl
DVD ~ LENI RIEFENSTAHL
DVD ~ Adolf Hitler
See all 20 books this book cites
