Reifenstal's films are the best known from the Third Reich, and, as you
say, have a debatable message, though I would argue the Triumph of the
Will was ultimately malignant. The so-called documentaries that were
unequivocally malign were those like, "The Eternal Jew". Failing to
condemn them is unconscionable. They were, without doubt, evil.
Jerry Liles
Robert Jackson wrote:
The "message" encoding in Leni Reifenstahl's films has been the
subject of a lot of critical discussion over the years. In Triumph of
the Will there is actually not all that much explicit "message." For
all its pomp and circumstance, there's really very little of the
National Socialist formal agenda in the film. Of course, the implicit
"message" of the film was that Hitler descended from the clouds to
grace Nuremberg with his presence and that he's there to insure that
Germany doesn't forget her past or lose sight of her future. It's one
of the most compelling pieces of persuasive political filmmaking ever
released to the public, but it never really comes out and says much
about what the goals of the party are. It's just kind of a feel-good
movie about what a great guy Hitler is.
Olympiad is a different beast. Reifestahl has been accused of having a
"fascist aesthetic." Essentially she concentrates on the strength and
beauty of the human form as an object of power and perfection, with
Hitler cheering on from the sidelines. It's been seen as sort of a
sales film for eugenics, but again without any actual explicit
"message" to suggest such a thing. She was a very subtle and talented
filmmaker. I can't imagine Reifenstahl doing anything as heavy-handed
as Bowling For Columbine.
On Nov 30, 2003, at 7:51 AM, Jerry Liles wrote:
That's like saying the "message" of the "documentary" films of the
Third Reich weren't ultimately malevolent.
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