Customer Reviews

Leni Riefenstahl

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dear Amazon.com book buyers. I thank you for your gracious comments. Your wisdom has impressed me with its depth and sincerity. As I head into my second century of robust and womanly life, I will take your kind words to heart. At last, I am understood as I would like to be understood, not as so-called "witnesss" and "scholars" would have it. Their truth is dead, yet mine lives on. God bless the internet for which we give our thanks. It has conveyed history, as it must be. The people have spoken

I do not agree with the opinion that this memoir is merely a work of propoganda to try to salvage the author's image and legacy. One leaves this book very moved by the triumphs and tragedies of an fiercely independent woman who was willing to sacrifice everything for her passion and love of film-making. If you are the slightest bit curious about this woman, this book is absolutely essential for your library. It is endlessly fascinating and enjoyable reading.

For some inexplicable reason the English translation omits portions of the original. The US publisher neglected to inform the reader of this little detail - I find this practice totally unacceptable (hence 1 star).

...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".

It took me over a month but I finally finished this
astonishing book. I'm exhausted and staggered by the sheer scope of
this woman's life--it is in fact a story larger than life. By way of
illustration, I recently read the famed and lengthy Carlos Baker
biography of Ernest Hemingway. Let me tell you in no uncertain
terms: Papa was a sissy in comparison to Leni Riefenstahl
(hereafter, LR). This woman displays more grit, tenacity, artistic
vision, dedication, resilience and audacity than a pack of wolves
cross bred with Ayn Rand and some other extreme artist of maniacal
bent, say, Van Gogh. She exemplifies the good and bad potentials for
life in the extreme. Hers is a story of perseverance and survival,
with agony and ecstasy throughout. The movie "The Wonderful,
Horrible Life of LR" could not be more aptly titled. Whew, I'm tongue
tied....this book took me there and back and I need a week off to
recuperate. It's well-written, but you won't read this for the
writing. This is about a life lived to the hilt, decades of painful
adventure, the stuff of legend.

Should you contemplate reading this book, I think you need to make a
decision in advance: Are you going to squander your time primarily
evaluating whether she had knowledge of the genocide of the Jewish
people by Hitler and hisminions?? If sitting as a juror as to facts
almost 60 years old is a particular hobby of yours, go at it. The
fact is, LR was pulled in front of multiple courts, tribunals, and
boards throughout the years and has essentially been acquitted time
and again by people who would have relished convicting her had there
been sufficient evidence. LR denies having knowledge of the
genocidal treatment of the Jewish people. Her denials are very
similar to those made by the balance of the German people who
survived the War and who lived in the same cities and who had similar
contacts with various Nazis, albeit perhaps at the lower social
levels. I personally believe her, as she demonstrates herself
throughout the book to be naive and self-absorbed. Like a lot of
artists, she was preoccupied with her own artistic agenda,
and "politics," political philosophy, and military ambitions were of
no interest to her. Similarly, she gets betrayed and ripped off so
many times by so many different people throughout this book of her
life that it is clear she has no real ability to evaluate people from
a character standpoint. She also seems credible from the stand point
that she describes a Hitler who is, suprisingly, not immediately
hateable. Instead, I was kind of taken aback by what a gentleman he
appeared to be to LR, and how he honored various agreements that he
made with her despite every temptation not to do so. LR's failure to
categorically condemn Hitler seems to accrue to her credibility that
she didn't know his full vicious potentials. (By so denouncing him
she could have staved off some further criticism.) She doesn't,
however, display that kind of deference to Goebbels and many other of
the Nazi bureaucrat/thugs. She describes them exactly as you would
envision them as being. Ugly and scary. In any event, my real point
is that this book is so full of a broad variety of intrigue that you
will miss out should you exclusively focus on this question of her
knowledge of or involvement in the atrocities. Bottom line: I don't
think we will ever know for sure one way or the other.

The true value of this book is the unique view it offers into so many
other varied areas: the history of Germany before, during, after
WWII ; the various people who inhabited Germany during this time;
insights into other great artists, actors, film-makers during the
30's, 40, 50's, 60's; insight into flying ace, Hans Udet; the story
of a person who endured multiple serious health ailments through the
years but went on to live to 100; a woman who experienced the heights
of international success and artistic glory; a woman who experienced
the depths of prejudice and hatred for her earlier affiliations;
tremendous insights into early film-making; great mountaineering and
skiing anecdotes; insights into the Sudan, the characters and tribal
peoples there; insights into the mind and agenda of a great
photographer (inspired, I pulled out my Leica and started shooting
again half way through the book)....on and on it goes. I enjoyed her
anecdotes of meeting Mick Jagger and Bianca, the people at National
Geographic, Andy Warhol, Walt Disney. The sheer number of interesting
events and people which are described is so vast I would have to
tabulate it to give an accurate estimation: she was almost strangled
as a child by a child serial killer; she was in Central America in
the early 70's when a huge hurricane went through and killed 8,000
people. She describes vivid and bizarre "psychic visions" at the
moment of meeting the two loves of her life, both of whom went on to
betray her trust and hopes. And, of course, her precisely described
conversations with Hitler are extremely interesting and of extreme
historical import (she gives almost verbatim descriptions of perhaps
20 or so private conversations with Hitler; she kept journals and had
to testify numerous times about the same, thus her accuracy). She
describes a bizarre meeting with Mussolini which was fraught with
tacit significance as she found herself unwittingly a messenger
between him and Hitler. I also was interested in her friendships
with Albert Speers, Jean Cocteau. Her favorite people over the
course of 90 years?? The Nuba of Sudan, natural, naked, innocent,
generous and playful...and extremely photogenic. That is actually
how I became familiar with LR: I have her Nuba books (reprints) and
they are some of the best examples of photography that I've ever seen-
-believe it or not, National Geographic has never published photos of
tribal peoples as good as these photos. I then discovered her
underwater photo books and was equally astonished. Only later did I
learn this photographer had earlier been a film-maker, with a couple
of flicks called "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia" to her credit,
ominous milestones in the history
of film-making. I'm looking forward to one day seeing her earlier
masterpiece "The Blue Light" which received international acclaim.

This woman is, in my opinion, one of the great artists and
adventurers of the 20th Century. This book is her story. It is
comfortably written and well translated, albeit filled with a few
more details than I needed (eg, production details from some of
films, and details regarding her countless defamation suits). As the
father of a young daughter, I plan on having her read this book (and
Ayn Rand's "Fountainhead") at as young an age a practicable. LR
displays what I see as enlightened feminism: no bitterness or
complaining about unfair circumstances, just full-on pursuit of her
dreams, going over or through anyone or anything who tries to thwart
her visions, like a locomotive, powered by pure merit and talent and
will power. Trying and failing, and then trying again and succeeding.

LR is hardly perfect, and her life is bittersweet. But she is still
here and her many enemies are mostly dead. And her films and
photographs will live forever. But her ultimate work of art is her
life story itself. She has inspired me with her courage and her
sense of adventure. Hemingway clearly would have wanted to buy her
drinks, and Shackleton likewise would salute.

There is no doubt that even today Leni Riefenstahl remains a controversial figure from the twentieth century. The editorial reviews listed have a knee jerk anti Riefenstahl sentiment and do not seem to be prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt. Riefenstahl was (is) undoubtedly a major film making talent, something which is admitted even by her greatest detractors. What the book shows is her internal fight against becoming the icon of propaganda film, with Riefenstahl longing to remain an actress and even become the next Marlene Dietrich. It is probably impossible to know how much of an apology for her life the book is, although the reader cannot help but admire her artistic vision and marvel at the truly amazing adventures she had (shooting movies on ice bergs which are breaking apart, for one!)
Although there are many incidents from her post war work, the majority of readers will be interested in the Nazi years. The question of whether she was genuinely ignorant of the abuses and horrors of Hitler and his cronies, or wheher she is trying to recast her personal life in light of them is one which nags at the reader at every turn. The answer will probably depend on the individual. In any case, the assertion that this is a dry and weak account is wrong and perhaps only points to the fact that it is best to approach the book with a (sceptical) open mind. Anyone interested in film history and pre and post war Germany will not be disapointed in the slightest!

Leni Riefenstahl is a genius, but her life (tragically) was ruined by some poor choices and the fact she was erroneously labelled after the war as "Hitler's mistress." Here she sets the record straight and includes some marvelous never-before revealed vignettes on Hitler, Goebbels and other members of the Nazi hierarchy.

Riefenstahl writes of how Hitler was walking with her on the sand on the Baltic sea and makes a sexual pass in 1932 as his entourage discreetly hovers in the background. Leni rejects the pass, as she rejects more vehemently Goebbels' more crude attempts to bed her later on.

There is much more, obviously, that this type of gossip, but it's riveting nonetheless. If you are an admirer of Leni's cinematic brilliance or curious about her real relationship with Hitler, this is a must read.

I found the book to be a fasinating one particularly because many of the people of that era are no longer with us. Leni is, therefore her account of that period is important, historically if for no other reason. She did not want to film the 1934 Nazi Party Rally but was forced to by Hitler. People forget that in those days very few people said "no" to Hitler.

It turns out that Leni R. is not only a great filmmaker, but a great writer. I found myself fascinated by this woman's triumphs and struggles, and saddened by the persecution of her that continued to the day of her death. There's something for everyone in this book, For 'creative people' you will find her insights fascinating....for the armchair adventurer, her travels to Greenland and Africa read like hemingway....the blurb on my addition says "coulnd't put it down' for once a book lived up to its expectations.

Side note:One of the great tragedies of the filmmaking is that this woman was essentially blacklisted after 1945 - and the hypocrisy of the people who do it and simulataneously heap praise on Sergi Eisentien (supporter of stalin) is appauling.

LR would have been even greater without the advent to power of the NSDAP. A pioneer of new techniques doubled by artistic sensitivity, LR would have claimed her right to glory regardless of who were the power dealers in Berlin.

To understand LR position vs. national socialism is to understand the dynamics of a society under a dictatorship. Just to flatly state that because of her pact with AH she shared the same views and opinions is blissful ignorance, at the best.

Artists and creators under censorship find ways to express themselves despite the hostile climate. And LR is an extraordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances. It is too easy to judge and throw the blame on her from the comfort of the freedom of speech which we all enjoy. It is not only too easy, it is a fashion.

Trying to understand and voice a different opinion of her becomes almost too ideological for the taste of the voluntary censorship in the US.
And the criticism borders the absurd when her artwork in Africa in the '60 is labeled "fascist" because of her choice
of subjects (afro people never made it into the fascist standards of beauty, in the official ideology books at least.).
Nobody can escape their destiny and this is hers, a controversial one.

I gave it a five for each of her lives.