Hitler And Leni example essay topic

Leni Riefenstahl Leni Riefenstahl, a dazzling individual that has lived through and experienced many things that no other person may have. She has lived through the World War One, Great Depression, Nazi Germany, World War Two, the Cold war and September 11. However, what fascinates historians and people all over was her involvement and relationship with Hitler and the Nazis party. This report will look over Leni's early to role as director of her Infamous films Triumph of the Will and Olympia and her involvement and view of Nazism and Hitler. Helene Bertha Amelie (Leni) was born on 22 August 1902 in Berlin. Leni lived in a comfortable middle-class family.

Since a young age Leni has had a passion for dance. Leni's dancing career began in the 1920's, during the Weimar republic that saw the birth of a culturally and politically diverse nation. Max Reinhardt, a prominent producer hired Leni as a dancer. Leni soon extended her talents to choreography. Her dancing career suffered due to a continues knee injuries and one in particular in 1925, when she performed Prague. However, her life was going to under go a dramatic change that would lead her to acting and finally directing.

Suddenly the image of a man climbing a jagged mountain came into focus. The colourful poster was promoting a movie with predictive name "Mountain of Destiny". Leni instantly became entranced with the movie and soon went off to meet Arnold Fanck who would open the world of cinema to Leni. She stared in six of his movies, such as The Holy Mountain, The Big Jump and the White Hell of Pit Palu, where she was portrayed as the hero and where her physical proficiency was displayed (which has always been a male domain). Franck had become her mentor and it been his opening scene of the 'The magic mountain' that Hitler admired. In 1932 the political situation in Germany was intensifying.

The Republic was crumbling and the great depression was taking its toll on the German people. Leni was not greatly affected by the depression and saw little of the violence that was occurring. In Berlin she was persuaded by friends to attend a political rally at Sports platz where Hitler would give an address. Instantly Leni had become spellbound by Hitler as he did upon thousands-'He radiated something very powerful,' she later observed, 'something which had a kind of hypotonic effect.

' Inspired by Hitler, Leni wrote to Hitler, who soon replied, as Hitler was an admirer of work. Hitler and Leni met in late 1932 on the Baltic coast. Hitler praised her and her work, which would have left no doubt that; she was flattered and captivated by Hitler. Hitler had told her that once the Nazis came into power that she would make movies for them.

It was a start of friendship between the two. Leni was fascinated with film and film techniques. So, in 1932 she produced, directed, edited and starred in The Blue Light. A fairytale story about a woman named Junta.

Leni experimented greatly with colour filters, light and camera shots. She was a perfectionist that was determined to create a mythical landscape. The film was a great success that won her a silver medal in the Venice Film Festival in 1933. Leni was a true artist that expressed and produced her movies in ways that have not been done before. Most films of the day were static productions that only had the camera in one position recording the action. She believed that the techniques used, such as music, angles and lighting, should be used to reflect and relate to the film.

All her scenes were carefully planned out and became experimental with her camera. She spent a great deal of time editing her films. In February 1933, Hitler asked Leni to make films for him. She however, declined due to her fear that it would decline her ability to work creatively in freedom.

Also, she did not wish to work under the control of Goebbels and she had no experience in documentaries. In 1934 Hitler insisted that she make a feature film about the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. Hitler demanded that she make the film and that Walter Ruttmann (communist) a documentary filmmaker she had suggested was not suitable. She had tried to have Hitler release her from the filming, but was promised by Hitler complete artistic control for this film and future works, outside of Goebbels, if she would complete this film. She reluctantly agreed to the filming, however under her own conditions.

She had asked that the production of the film would be put under her company (Leni Riefenstahl Studio Film) and not by the Ministry of Propaganda. The Triumph of the Will was a film like no other, during this era. The techniques used and the careful editing of each scene was completely new and revolutionary. The camera angle was used in every possible way, from camera operators on moving cranes and trucks, to cameras being positioned in Hitler's car. Close-ups and images in half-profile were rarely used and the close-ups in this film are the first time German audiences have seen their fuehrer close up. These uses of close-ups show the emotions and intense joy of women, children, and soldiers.

The close-ups also glorify the strength and image of the Aryan people. The beginning of the documentary starts off with the audience looking through Hitler's viewpoint. They are descending through the clouds and finally ascend over Nuremberg. The camera angle faces downwards and we see the entire city. Hitler is being portrayed as a God, descending from heaven and looking over his creation. Leni was able to give greater strength to Hitler through the use of her camera angles; he is always looking down on the action, which reinforces the ideal of a great and solitary leader.

There is little dialogue in the film, as Riefenstahl allows the images to speak for themselves. Music is also very important, as Leni fitted the music with the images. The music consisted of military and marching songs that were selected from the composer Richard Wagner. After the success of Triumph of the Will, Leni was approached by Professor Carl Diem, secretary general of the organization committee of the Eleventh Olympic Games.

He asked her to make a film about the games. Although she had sworn never to do another documentary after her previous film, she found the idea most stirring because no such attempt at filming the games with any artistic or aesthetic merit had been done. She however, had doubts and asked her old friend Arnold Fanck on how to approach this project. After hearing his ideas she was close to not taking up the project until she began to visualize a film that blended the ancient aesthetic with the modern games. Olympia also had the same techniques that were used in the Triumph of the Will.

Riefenstahl's skilful editing allowed for the most exciting moments to be featured and produced a smooth transition between the sporting events. She also, in a most sophisticated manner, incorporated sound in the form of background music and narration. Riefenstahl worked tirelessly to coordinate the music of the distinguished film composer Herbert Wind with the moving images in the film. Unlike the Triumph of the Will, Olympia is much more harder to claim as propaganda film. Although, the focus of the athletics bodies and the glorification of the human body has led some to believe that there was support for the Nazi ideology of the master race. The main criticism of the film is of the great praise of the human body, rather then on the events themselves.

Even though Leni set out to create an artistic image of the games without the interference of political motives, the film still has what can be considered Nazi ideologies. The film glorified the body of the Aryan; it spoke about the struggle to achieve supremacy and of the master race. 'Riefenstahl's film also reflected the official Nazi view of art and sculpture, where idealized images of the perfect human form, drawn from the heroic images of the ancient world, were used to depict racial perfection and the vision of the master race. ' 2 Leni Riefenstahl had never joined the Nazi party, but held great admiration for Hitler-'Hitler always spoke only about his own ideas, and as a result remained essentially alien to me, despite the admiration and gratitude that I still felt for him at the time.

' 3 However, due to the nature of her work, Leni was regarded as either a Nazi or a Nazi sympathise r. Leni has always defended herself by saying that she was far to concentrated on her work to worry about politics. She has been asked whether she would apologise for her actions. In the biographical film The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl she responds 'Sorry for what? ...

I was never anti-Semitic and I never joined the Nazi Party. So what am I guilty of?' Leni has always held that she was never racist, nor anti semitic. She uses Triumph of the Will as an example of how she never entered any anti-semitic speeches into her documentary and Olympia, which shows the African American Jesse Owens winning events, even though it goes against Nazism ideology of other races being inferior. However, in Triumph of the Will, she makes Hitler out to be a god-like figure. She is captivated by Hitler's charisma. In June 1940 Leni sends Hitler a telegram congratulating him on his invasion of Paris.

She has been condemned for making such a telegram. In her defence she says that many other Germans were also expressing the same feelings. In the historical world Leni Riefenstahl has become a very much, debated character. The question on whether or not she was a pro Nazi or an unfortunate filmmaker that was enticed by Hitler is still one of the major debates that continue.

Other debates revolve around her most famous films The Triumph of the Will and Olympia. The debate is whether these films were propaganda or documentaries. Ian Kershaw states that 'those seeing the film were clearly witnessing no a documentary on the Reich Party Rally, but a celluloid exposition of the Fuhrer cult'. Kershaw says that the Triumph of the Will is nothing more then propaganda or a film that celebrates Fuhrer Myth. Another Historian is David Welch who sees a propaganda motive behind Olympia-'A... celebration of various elements of the Nazi Weltanschauung, notably the importance of Strength through joy and the idealization of the Aryan body'. A strong critic of Leni Susan Sontag believes that Leni was a Nazi even though she was not apart of the party, and suggests that Leni's photos of the Nub an people hold strong reminders of Nazi ideology.

Her art is the most highly debated issue when referring to Leni Riefenstahl. There is no doubt that her work with Hitler and the Nazis would damage her life. Audrey Salkeld states-'The high profile and privileges she enjoyed in the early Hitler years guaranteed she would prove a embarrassment in a world rigorously purging itself of Nazi taint after the war. ' However, the question on whether she was or was not a Nazi supporter is still open to debate because of the lack of grounded evidence from Leni or any other Nazi collaborator that says she was a Nazi.

Also, Leni temper and refusal to answer questions on her life have left many in doubt and her memoirs just like others are written in defence of her collaboration with the Nazis. The Nazi party had only been in power for nineteen months and a few months before the making of Triumph of the Will the Night of the Long Knifes occurred. Hitler and Goebbels both knew of the power of the cinema and its ability to persuade people. At this period of time Hitler only had one-third of the German population behind him and he had the leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm, along with other leaders of the SA killed, so there was growing tension within the party. So, Triumph of the Will was used by the Nazis to show the greatness, discipline and order of the Nazi party and of their leader. Leni also spread through her movies the greatness of Hitler and the Fuhrer myth.

In Triumph of the Will, Hitler is highly worshipped by the camera, which also has to do with Leni's personal opinion of Hitler. He is depicted as a great and commanding leader. In Olympia and Triumph of the Will, especially Olympia, the focus on human body is very apparent. Her films are once again depicting Nazi dogma, of the perfect body and the vision for the master race. Overall, Leni made some contributes to the cultural and social life of Germany through her brilliant techniques and her bias opinion of Hitler, which she portrays in Triumph of the Will. However, She was not politically involved in the Nazi party, nor had any control over the ministry of propaganda to make great changes.

Leni Riefenstahl was an incredibly talented woman who revolutionized cinematic techniques and became a legend in cinema making history. However, her career with the Nazi party has tainted all privileges that she should have received for her artistic brilliance. Audrey Salkeld-'... society owes her a debt. Without Triumph of the Will, our understanding of the Nazi phenomenon, and its power through myth and pageantry to bind millions of free-thinkers to a single purpose, would be diminished, particularly half a century after the event.

Bibliography

Republic to Reich: A history of Germany 1918-1945 (K.
J. Mason) 2003 This text was useful for my research, because it gave a good overview of the life of Leni Riefenstahl and it examined her two controversial films Triumph of the Will and Olympia.
It also gives names of Historians and of the historical debates. I used the text through understanding what it was saying and compared it to my opinion of Leni. I used quotes from the text, which it had taken from historians, or other texts. A Portrait of Leni Riefenstahl (Audrey Salkeld) 1996 The text was quite and interesting as it presented the views of not only Audrey but of other historians.
The text gave me both views of the debate over Leni. It also helped me in determining my standing over the debates surrounding Riefenstahl. I used quotes from the text and used it in my reports. web Teaching History: Leni Riefenstahl Sources and Debates (Andrew G. Bonnell) 2001 web.