Leni Riefenstahl dies at 101; Known for Nazi Era Propoganda Films

AP

[IronJack]

Our outrage with the Nazis was highly selective. I notice that although Werner von Braun masterminded the V2 project, he was spirited away to the United States and later celebrated as a hero.

Riefenstahl was a cinematic artist. Like many artists, she divorced herself from the subject of her composition, and concentrated on the art for its own sake. That leads to such seeming paradoxes as Triumph of the Will, where sublime beauty is invoked to glorify ultimate evil.

[IronJack]

she has the blood of thousands and thousands on her hands.

That's a stretch ... She no more has blood on her hands for glorifying Nazism than Tchaikovsky has for celebrating the Russian victory at Moscow. Artists are often paid to glorify their patrons. The measure of their ability isn't the beauty of the subject, but how well they succeed in their task. At that, Riefenstahl was a virtuoso.

[Heyworth]

She is no better than Speer (Architect and weapons procurement for the Reich) or other mid level party members who designed ingenious ways to destroy unwanted people.

Really? Speer supervised the Nazi industrial production program, and hence was deeply involved in the use of slave labor. Millions died because of his direct efforts and orders. Leni Riefenstahl essentially made a two hour commercial for the Nazis, plus an essentially apolitical sports film, and never did a thing for them after 1938, and yet you say that they are morally the same?

[Steve_Stifler]

Am I being overly cynical in believing that 90% of the posters attacking Riefenstahl would've been touting the (Nazi)party line and goose-stepping in time to the cadence if they had been living in 1930s/40s Germany and needed to do so to provide for their family's security?

[Oztrich Boy]

The hilarious thing is that Olympia exudes homoerotica

That may just be in the eye of the viewer.

[ffusco]

Yes, morally equal, but not guilty of the same crimes.

[justshutupandtakeit]

And I will bet that the amount of royalities went up during that period as more people were likely to be buying it. Talk about irony, LoL.

[weegee]

I haven't seen but a few frames from Olympia (I saw the documentary on Leni and have seen some shots in books).

This whole "homoerotic" thing I just don't get. This was a woman behind the camera. How is her obsessing over the bodies of men homoerotic? If a guy had made it the case could be made. Are people referring to the way she shot women?

If a man makes a statue or drawing of a nude figure, is it automatically "homoerotic" if it is of a man?

[weegee]

Perhaps if you are thinking that 90% of the crowd here are moral relativists, unable to identify absolutes of black/white, good/evil.

[dfwgator]

Am I being overly cynical in believing that 90% of the posters attacking Riefenstahl would've been touting the (Nazi)party line and goose-stepping in time to the cadence if they had been living in 1930s/40s Germany and needed to do so to provide for their family's security?

Sadly, probably not. It's easy to condemn Hitler in hindsight, knowing what we know today. But the facts are, most Americans in the mid 30's tolerated, and many even supported Hitler and what he was doing for Germany. They didn't know that all along he was planning for war, and the holocaust. Although I maintain anyone who would have taken the time to read "Mein Kampf" should have known.

[dfwgator]

I also forgot to add that most Brits considered Churchill a nutcase when he warned the world about Hitler in the 30s.