Leni Riefenstahl

Describe the personal background and the historical context of the personality you have studied.
Leni Riefenstahl was regarded as having led five separate lives, but the life of Leni Riefenstahl is one that is characterised by remorseless passion and incessant desire to convey herself artistically in any way, shape or form. Leni demonstrated a certain single-minded fervour in the search of artistic brilliance until the day of her death at 101 years of age, and the greater excellence of a number of the works that she produced is a testament to this assertion. While her reputation has been permanently tarnished by the involvement of her work with Nazi propaganda and fascist aesthetics, the indisputable fact of the matter is that in spite of
her motivations, the techniques she established in the expression of her artistic talent have revolutionised the way that films are produced to this very day and as result, Leni Riefenstahl has had a lasting, if controversial, impact upon history.
Born in 1902 to moderately wealthy, middle class parents; Leni Riefenstahl’s uncontainable desire to convey herself artistically often resulted in arguments with her father who beheld the idea of dancing with despise, especially in light of the popular awareness of Berlin as a ‘national sewer’ that was under the thralls of ‘moral anarchy’ after the war. Leni’s dancing career began in the October of 1923, in spite of harsh disapproval of her father. Leni’s first solo performance caught the eye of Max Reinhardt, who as a result provided her with a comfortable living as a dancer in his Deutches Theatre following the destruction of hyperinflation upon the German economy. The fervour with which Leni entered into her ensuing career as a solo act in several major cities is a testament to the remorseless passion that characterises her strong will to accomplish her dreams, as evidenced by the enthusiasm she demonstrated while choreographing new routines and altering costumes and music to suit her artistic ideas. Leni’s style conformed to the Expressionist movement that conquered Weimar culture at the time, which tried to connect audiences by encouraging them to share in the emotional experience of the performer, as well as the concept of the ‘Cult of the Body’ that conquered Germany’s artistic ideology in an attempt to restore the nation following the devastation of the First World War, Leni was described as lively, graceful and free-flowing in her movements. Even though she was successful, Leni would not attain the status of astonishing before her great devotion resulted in an injury that would bring the end of her dancing career. However, luck would later step in while she was waiting to embark the train to see a specialist, at which point the poster for Fanck’s upcoming film ‘Mountain of Destiny’ enthralled the young Leni and catalysed her search of a career in acting, a career which eventually lay the foundation for her momentous impact on history.
After viewing ‘Mountain of Destiny’ Leni Riefenstahl was enthralled to such a degree that she instantly required out its lead actor and director for the purpose of vigorously pursuing the shift from dancing to acting.
As the 1920s progressed, the “Golden Age” of Weimar cinema that was characterised by the high brow Expressionist genre slowly gave way to the appearance of ‘berg’ films as the method of the film that conquered German cinema, and it is within this arena that the powerful combination of Leni and Fanck facilitated the fast rise of the former fame. Their first endeavour, entitled ‘The Holy Mountain’ resulted in the adding of a new dimension to Fanck’s filming, given that the inclusion of Leni’s past life reinvigorated the genre by adding expressionist essentials to films that had beforehand been apparent as male star vehicles. However, the actress’ raid into film did not create completely positive results, since work on the mountains was burdened with danger and Leni sustained an injury that resulted in the potentially harmful impermanent end of production. Leni’s healing on the set provided her with the chance of learning about the editing, developing and printing of film, which would later become very useful during her career as a director, such an occurrence proved fortunate for Leni as an individual. While ‘The Holy Mountain’ was a box-office success, the same cannot be said for all the films that were produced as a result of the pairing of Fanck and Leni; in
spite of this fact, the period spent under Fanck’s guidance was dominant with regards to Leni’s mastery of the art of direction, through the skills and contacts that were acquired in this time. The economic situation in Germany began to worsen as the decade drew to a close and the country went into the Depression, and as a result, German cinema began to reproduce the growing stress on nationalism as the symbol of the mountain came to symbolize Aryan racial purity and supremacy, therefore reflecting the rising Nazi influence within German society. Leni herself met with Hitler before filming ‘SOS Iceberg’ began, at the relationship that was as a result forged would later become the basis of the historical criticism that surrounds her, given that its influence would be obvious in the following directorial career that she was to board upon from 1932.
Leni Riefenstahl wanted to translate her vast artistic vision into a film of her own creation, utilising the countless editing and directorial techniques that had been obtained during her acting career under Fanck and as a result she produced ‘The Blue Light’ which was released in 1932. ‘The Blue Light’ was hailed as her greatest pre-Nazi success, a tour de force for the promising director who also co-produced, starred, wrote and edited the work which was seen as revolutionary for its time. Leni displayed the span of her innovation in the work of the film; her willpower to suggest the suitable emotions within the audience led to the testing with various filters as well as the creation of new types of film that allowed her to achieve the desired effect. A thorough artist, Leni was professed as arrogant by a number of her acquaintances; but, her wide understanding of the effect of camera angles, costuming and lighting produced her persistent denial to negotiate to the wishes of her producers, thus resulting in a product that was extremely regarded at the time of its release. In spite of its success, Leni had to challenge with the meddling of Fanck, who wanted to re-create the film in his signature style throughout the editing process; Leni asserts to have “saved the film” which later won the silver medal at the Venice Biennale Film Festival. Leni’s return from the film’s European tour concurred with the climax of the rise of Nazism, which was the result of the desperation experienced by German citizens as the Depression caused the levels of unemployment to climb and the people wanted to solace with extremist parties who emerged to present a solution. As a result, Leni was met with a Berlin that was coloured in an overabundance of posters promoting Hitler and the Nazi party, and her following presence at the Nazi rally paved her determination to meet with the distinguishing speaker.
Leni Riefenstahl wrote a letter to the charismatic leader in which she requested a meeting, as a result of her determination to meet with Hitler, and the following agreement of her wish shaped a relationship that would concurrently give way to the major works of her filming career and guarantee its ruin once the war ended. Leni met Hitler previous to filming ‘SOS Iceberg’ and claims that the infamous leader entreated her to produce films for the Nazi party; though, she insists that she rejected the offer, asserting that she could never create prescribed films. In spite of her rebuffs, Leni then became included within Nazi circles at an alarming rate that contradict the claims that she was completely apolitical. Nonetheless, she left Germany to begin filming in January 1933 and by her return in May that same year the nation had undergone a dramatic transition under Hitler’s Chancellorship and she was again approached with the request to produce a film for the Nazi party; on this occurrence, she did not refuse. The result of this union was ‘Victory of Faith’ which focused on the Nuremberg rallies of 1933; though, Leni was not pleased with the results. In spite of this occurrence she would produce the ‘Triumph of the Will’. A cinematic documentation of the rallies in the following year, and it is the footage that a result was produced that would become identical with Hitler and the Nazi party in the eyes of future generations. Leni employed masterfully ground-breaking techniques in her depiction of the historic event, mounting cameras on flagpoles and railroad tracks flawlessly capture shots that would provide an almost holy feel to the representation of Hitler as a wonderful leader, hence spreading the idea of the ‘Fuhrer cult’ that conquered Nazi ideology at the time. Both ‘Triumph of the Will’ and Leni’s second extravagant feature of the 1936 Berlin Olympics named ‘Olympia’, were well acknowledged throughout Europe, even though the latter has been criticised of fascist aesthetics which match to the Nazi idea of the ‘cult of the body’. In spite of this view it is recognised as the greatest sports documentary ever made; though, its recognition at the time of release did not last as the true nature of Nazism began to be exposed, particularly after the events of Kristallnanct which occurred while Leni was on tour in the US. Leni Riefenstahl’s positive representation of Hitler and the Nazi party would eventually show to be ironically devastating to her career, given that the Nazi party’s funding facilitated the making of two of her greatest films, while her involvement with them would eventuate in the termination of her career as a filmmaker.
WWII and its aftermath would prove to be a turbulent period in the life of Leni Riefenstahl, during which she was exposed to the horrors of the war and subjected to the cruel allegations that would accordingly bring about the end of her filming career. Leni was assigned to the Polish front as a war correspondent at the outburst of the war, although, the carnage that she witnessed while there ended up in her immediate return to Berlin, suggesting the desertion of her hopes of creating films at the front. Upon her return she was free to begin work on what would be her final feature film, the unfortunate ‘Tiefland’, which was overwhelmed by such problems as funding, time of delays, poor location and the strict Ministry of Propaganda who measured the film to be a low priority. As the war neared to its close, Leni was busy with a number of personal tragedies such as the deaths of her father and brother and at the time of Germany’s final defeat; ‘Tiefland’ was still incomplete. The Allied powers swiftly embarked upon the procedure of post-war de-Nazification following their victory, looking for to completely eliminate any traces of the government that had inflicted some of the worst atrocities the world had ever seen for the purpose of preventing the possibility of its re-occurrence. To this end Leni Riefenstahl was captured and eventually imprisoned in Salzburg by US troops, and following countless of questions concerning the nature of her associations with Hitler and the degree of her knowledge of concentration camps, she was considered de-Nazified and released, only to be picked up again by the French who had obtained German land in the separation of the nation that had occurred as a result of their defeat in the war. After lasting yet another round of questioning, Leni was believed de-Nazified for a second time, yet, she was presented with the label of ‘Nazi sympathiser’ and the later years would see her fighting to recover her property that had been detained by the French; all the while fighting camp extras within her film. Following her achievement of most of her footage from the French, Leni finished ‘Tiefland’ and finally released the film in 1954; although, her audience was overpoweringly uncaring and this endeavour would show to be the last feature film of her career.
The disgrace that convoyed the label of ‘Nazi propagandist’ never left Leni Riefenstahl for the period of her life and as a result she was not capable to gain work in Europe and the US during the post-war recovery, therefore hurried her retreat into the African wilderness as well as her later project into the kingdom of underwater photography.
In the years after the war Leni was besieged with accusations and slurs against her reputation, as a result, catalysing her endeavour into Sudan in the 1950’s where she joined an anthropological trip that was devoted to the study of the Nuba tribe. As a result of the rapid breach of Westernisation upon these people, there existed a need to collect all of the recognized and photographic evidence of the tribe before their looming extinction; to this end Leni travelled to the African continent a dozen times between the years 1962 and 1977, capturing the heart of the Nubian people. Even though the work in Africa was often provoking, it was a welcome haven away from the judgement that bounded her in Europe and America and the result was a series of books that recognized the customs and culture of a wiped out race. Yet again Leni was highly criticised and condemned that her Nuba photographs were deemed as ‘fascist and aesthetic’ that conformed the Nazi ideal of the ‘cult of body’ into the depiction of the human form, thereby implying that she would continually be restricted by the limits of her historical context in spite of the
anthropological meaning to her work. Leni faked her age, became a fully qualified scuba diver and continued on to capture still pictures of underwater environments, with which it was unlikely that similarities with Nazism could be drawn, in an attempt to escape such a stereotype. Underwater photography would be Leni Riefenstahl’s last artistic endeavour before her death in 2003 at the remarkable age of 101.
Leni Riefenstahl displayed a continuing passion and liveliness that contradicted the controversy that regularly accompanied her work, during her life that spanned over a century. The remorseless search of amazing creativity that charactered each of her endeavours is a testament to the single-mindedness that she possessed in attempting to bring her supreme artistic vision to life. The significant feature of Riefenstahl’s life is not, as many would believe, her role as a ‘Nazi propagandist’, but rather her persistent seize on artistic ideals; a feature which interpreted into all of her many career paths and led to the number of innovations that are still utilised to this very day.