Leni Riefenstahl was a pioneering filmmaker and the most significant propagandist of National Socialism. She provided Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels with stylistic grandeur. Riefenstahl transformed them into icons. Her footage of the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg in “Triumph of the Will” and the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin in “Olympia” remain etched in collective memory to this day. In doing so, she created a heroic epic for the Nazis. The American philosopher Susan Sontag coined for this phenomenon the term “fascist aesthetics.”
Films, advertising, music videos, and photographers worldwide have drawn inspiration from her style, influencing everything from “Star Wars” to Calvin Klein underwear ads.
Leni Riefenstahl remains a highly controversial figure: What is the responsibility of the artist? What should art do? A new film titled “Leni Riefenstahl,” directed by award-winning German filmmaker Andres Veiel, makes the case that art cannot exist independently of political and social circumstances.
Despite her attempts after World War II to distance herself from her actions during the Nazi era — more specifically, to deny them — she never expressed remorse or admitted guilt, nor has she acknowledged or understood the devastating impact of her work.
Recent research, along with a documentary by Andres Veiel, has shed new light on Leni Riefenstahl’s life and career. The examination of her estate, which includes 700 previously sealed boxes, has allowed for a reassessment of her influence on film and art history.
The tension between artistic merit and ethical responsibility lies at the heart of the ongoing debate surrounding Riefenstahl’s legacy, which remains highly relevant today.
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00:00 Introduction
00:34 Title: Leni Riefenstahl: The Horrible Power of Images
01:28 The Rise of Riefenstahl
03:47 Artist or Monster?
05:09 Made the Nazis look like Nazis – Triumph of the Will
07:48 Riefenstahl’s Revolutionary Style – Olympia
10:57 From Riefenstahl to Calvin Klein and Star Wars
12:55 Opportunist, or a True Nazi?
14:59 Leni Riefenstahl’s Lies
17:28 Once a Nazi, Always a Nazi?
18:31 The Facist Lens
20:09 Riefenstahl, Trump and the Far Right
#dwhistoryandculture
22:17 Why Riefenstahl Still Matters
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Amazing woman, its a shame, she deserve more recognition
We should be proud of the fact that a women successfully established a career in a male dominated field during the 40’s. That is still practically unheard of. She had no control over who was in power at that time. Most people are opportunists, male or female. I still think she is a trailblazer and should be commended
🤔
catalisador da formação do estado sionista. A vítima de ontem tornou-se o abusador e genocida de hoje, sem máscaras nem pudores.
And now Europe supports a genocide in Gaza. No lessons learned, if there ever was a will to learn
This documentary promises more, but fulfills very little. Please dig into those records and files and draw out the material about her motivation and thinking. You are just judging the past with buckets of presentism, and avoiding her specific context. It uses hearsay, rather than confirming facts, and seeks to make judgments favorable to the contemporary liberal-left, which has become way, way lefter in the 21st century. Oh–by the way–since when was the actual subject so blonde in her prime (forget the later touchup)? Think again, and do some real work!
New Hitler trump and his rich greedy friends! Sad day in the USA
It is possible to be both an artist and a monster. Richard Wagner wrote great music. He was also a rabid Anti-Semite.
Ja, ich wusste, dass man irgendwie einen Weg finden würde, Trump in diese Diskussion einzubeziehen.
Great documentary! The comment about the Trump rally was pretty far fetched. I don’t even like the guy, and I call bullshit
That was fabulous.
That was bloody good, but 26 min is too short….more please especially about answering those lingering questions once the archive is dissected.
She got away with it……..how?
Triumph of the will is fucking awesome..its not that racist overtly but it is in a way
Adi
Artists get away with all kinds of wickedness…..just as they do today.
Adi is a unisex name in Hebrew that means "jewel" or "ornament". It can also mean "my witness". In Sanskrit, Adi is a male name that means "first" or "superior". In Arabic, Adi was a military title that meant "the one who charges" in battle
Im.a black cat.from the united states i love her movies well at least triumph of the will…if you look at at for it's artistic quality it's amazing..if youre trying to analyze it for as nazi propaganda well not everything is perfect
I do t get it..whats the big deal.mein kampf is still.on sale in berlin…so what's the big deal.aboht these movies
Leni was a true GENIUS!
She is who she needs to be in moment.
F in Adolf was her homeboy..besides don't some.or should I say a lot of germans still.think that way when no one is looking
Why wasn't she prosecuted after the war. And Lucas' final scene creeped me out when I saw it in the theater. Disgusting.
Curious to know what the world thinks of Putrescent Musk's attempt at a Nazi power move with his desperate little billionaire's salute.
People seem to forget that it took time to lay the groundwork for Hitler's atrocity agenda; Musk's kind of performative dogwhistling is clearly following the same strategy.
#resistMAGA
#boycottUSA
What a great informative video. Great job DW.
She was just going with the times and she is also visually one of my favorite filmmakers
To conclude the program with anti Trump stuff and condemnation of right wing politics puts you in with CNN MSNBC CBS BBC and other media outlets who called Trump a Nazi (you included this rather than concluding with it).
Today CNN, BBC, continue the tradition and promote her ideas
Brilliant. Showing it my class.
Very good. It is a difficult subject in Germany and controversial outside of Germany.
Muy interesante. Por mi parte, sólo lamento que los aliados no la hayan colgado con alambre de enfardar en 1945.
Dank jullie wel.
She was the queen bee of sociopaths. Everything serves her own selfish egocentric thoughts. Art is merely a means to that end. A destructive path clocked and disguised.
I have so mixed feelings towards her: as a photographer I admire the esthetics of her images but I can avoid the fact she was a heartfelt nazi.
Over the top projection. Too much.
what is Musk with №azigrüß?
5:35 Musk by Trump's inauguration?
NS-Germany =putler's terrorussia
The introduction should have let us know that politics were coming.
"horrible power"?
Comparing this to a modern day "right wing extremists" Trump rally is absolutely disgusting.
It is always interesting to hear Sandra Maischberger talk about "rotten character".
People align themselves with whoever is in power. Especially successful people. It's a story as old as time. Although some people have something called principles. They wont compromise to be with the ingroup.
Echoes of Riefenstahl in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. A hundred dancing nurses in unison in celebration of a strong people's National Health Service where the expression of the people counts. That's no different from China, a people's democratic dictatorship where the working people as a whole come first, not the selfish individual.
Great documentary film
The Riefenstahl lessons are oh so valid today! "When you have a trauma you bend it, so you can live with it."
Can the Germans please plead the Zionists to go in therapy, and work some more on their own programming? Mass murder is mass murder. Regardless how it's advertised, denied, protected because of your own trauma, or even sold with art.
So her film Triumph Of The Will inspires modern political conventions? This clip was moving along nicely until i realised it's political agenda.
Politics aside she is truly talented
she was a genious
The comments here are a reminder that many people take pleasure in portraying all famous artists are uniquely horrible human beings. Well, it is true that many artists are highly flawed. A few are monsters. (In my view, Leni was like Degas: Perhaps not really monstrous but certainly monster-adjacent.) But it is also true that envy — sheer, stupid envy — impels many common people to emphasize the failings of uncommon people. The small feel less small when they assail those who play a large role in the culture.