Leni Riefenstahl

Rating:
Summary: Leni Riefenstahl, a Real Person
Review: I love Leni Riefenstahl. Her memoire is honest and descriptive. It is a big book, but a historical perspective that most are not aware. Ms. Riefenstahl is 99 and will turn 100 in August. She has really lived many lives. She learned to dive in the 1980's as she lied about her age. She started doing her film work underwater because there was no more pain or at least less. In fact, she has a new film 45-min that will be our shortly. This memoire is fascinating as Leni R.'s life is and she is like the energizer bunny. She's endured a lot of grief for her work for Hitler, but she's a filmmaker and like most artists, her work is very important to her. I hope to see her diving in New Guinea again. Back to the book, Leni Riefenstahl. She was a woman before her time literally "climbing the mountains of success". Her art, her life and her humanitarian side really show through in some of her other books, but also her you see the real side of Leni R and like so many others if you think she was a supporter of Hitler's, then watch the Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl.
Everyone should own a copy of this memoire. There will never be another woman like Leni Riefenstahl, "the world greatest filmmaker in the world" according to the director of Pearl Harbor. She is also and a great writer and photographer too.
WWII buffs will enjoy the book as she relates her one on one talks with Hitler about the films he enjoyed that Leni made and the films he wanted her to make for him, which she refused but was later convinced to do the job. Pinning labels on L.R. is to close your mind to the real woman we know, Leni Riefenstahl...

Rating:
Summary: Leni Riefenstahl, a Real Person
Review: I love Leni Riefenstahl. Her memoire is honest and descriptive. It is a big book, but a historical perspective that most are not aware. Ms. Riefenstahl is 99 and will turn 100 in August. She has really lived many lives. She learned to dive in the 1980's as she lied about her age. She started doing her film work underwater because there was no more pain or at least less. In fact, she has a new film 45-min that will be our shortly. This memoire is fascinating as Leni R.'s life is and she is like the energizer bunny. She's endured a lot of grief for her work for Hitler, but she's a filmmaker and like most artists, her work is very important to her. I hope to see her diving in New Guinea again. Back to the book, Leni Riefenstahl. She was a woman before her time literally "climbing the mountains of success". Her art, her life and her humanitarian side really show through in some of her other books, but also her you see the real side of Leni R and like so many others if you think she was a supporter of Hitler's, then watch the Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl.
Everyone should own a copy of this memoire. There will never be another woman like Leni Riefenstahl, "the world greatest filmmaker in the world" according to the director of Pearl Harbor. She is also and a great writer and photographer too.
WWII buffs will enjoy the book as she relates her one on one talks with Hitler about the films he enjoyed that Leni made and the films he wanted her to make for him, which she refused but was later convinced to do the job. Pinning labels on L.R. is to close your mind to the real woman we know, Leni Riefenstahl...

Rating:
Summary: Leni Reifenstahl, A Memoir
Review: I wrote a review for this book on January 11. You did not print my review in it's entirety. At the very end I defended Leni Reifenstahl by saying that "She should tell all her negative critics to go to hell"!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating memiors of much maligned woman.
Review: It turns out that Leni R. is not only a great filmmaker, but a great writer. I found myself fascinated by this woman's triumphs and struggles, and saddened by the persecution of her that continued to the day of her death. There's something for everyone in this book, For 'creative people' you will find her insights fascinating....for the armchair adventurer, her travels to Greenland and Africa read like hemingway....the blurb on my addition says "coulnd't put it down' for once a book lived up to its expectations.

Side note:One of the great tragedies of the filmmaking is that this woman was essentially blacklisted after 1945 - and the hypocrisy of the people who do it and simulataneously heap praise on Sergi Eisentien (supporter of stalin) is appauling.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating life.
Review: It's amazing how much Leni Riefenstahl has done in her long life. I just finished reading this autobiography written by her and was not disappointed. She has led such a full and varied existence. She tells the reader all about the different pursuits she has taken: everything from being a dancer to being an actress. Those are just a couple of examples. It's ashamed that she has had to put up with the prejudices of so many people almost all of her life though. It was very interesting reading about what she had to say about Hitler and that period of time that The Third Reich was in power too. Also her adventures in Africa photographing and filming the Nuba tribes was interesting. The book also contains numerous photos. Leni Riefenstahl is truly someone that has lived life to the fullest and has done what she has wanted. It's great to read about a person that has taken so many chances and done so many things. This autobiography is well worth a read. The documentary about her called The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl is also very good and quite extraordinary.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, especially the early years
Review: Leni Riefenstahl is a genius, but her life (tragically) was ruined by some poor choices and the fact she was erroneously labelled after the war as "Hitler's mistress." Here she sets the record straight and includes some marvelous never-before revealed vignettes on Hitler, Goebbels and other members of the Nazi hierarchy.

Riefenstahl writes of how Hitler was walking with her on the sand on the Baltic sea and makes a sexual pass in 1932 as his entourage discreetly hovers in the background. Leni rejects the pass, as she rejects more vehemently Goebbels' more crude attempts to bed her later on.

There is much more, obviously, that this type of gossip, but it's riveting nonetheless. If you are an admirer of Leni's cinematic brilliance or curious about her real relationship with Hitler, this is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: fascinating and hauting
Review: Leni Riefenstahl is a monument! This book gives a excellent insight in what she did during the roaring twenties; the dark thirties & forties and mostly how she managed to actually not fade away in obscurity but become a celebrated photographer and underwater filmer. This woman is everything we all love to hate: narcistic; brillant; naive; opportunistic; ambitious etc. If only people would stop condemning her and look at the timeless aesthetics she created through the years! Monsters are rare and Riefenstahl is one of them. Cherish them because they show the essence of life. Please, send your ideas and views on Riefenstahl to my e-mail address: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Leni R. and the national socialism
Review: LR would have been even greater without the advent to power of the NSDAP. A pioneer of new techniques doubled by artistic sensitivity, LR would have claimed her right to glory regardless of who were the power dealers in Berlin.

To understand LR position vs. national socialism is to understand the dynamics of a society under a dictatorship. Just to flatly state that because of her pact with AH she shared the same views and opinions is blissful ignorance, at the best.

Artists and creators under censorship find ways to express themselves despite the hostile climate. And LR is an extraordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances. It is too easy to judge and throw the blame on her from the comfort of the freedom of speech which we all enjoy. It is not only too easy, it is a fashion.

Trying to understand and voice a different opinion of her becomes almost too ideological for the taste of the voluntary censorship in the US.
And the criticism borders the absurd when her artwork in Africa in the '60 is labeled "fascist" because of her choice
of subjects (afro people never made it into the fascist standards of beauty, in the official ideology books at least.).
Nobody can escape their destiny and this is hers, a controversial one.

I gave it a five for each of her lives.

Rating:
Summary: Controversial Filmmaker or Self Serving Propagandist?
Review: There is no doubt that even today Leni Riefenstahl remains a controversial figure from the twentieth century. The editorial reviews listed have a knee jerk anti Riefenstahl sentiment and do not seem to be prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt. Riefenstahl was (is) undoubtedly a major film making talent, something which is admitted even by her greatest detractors. What the book shows is her internal fight against becoming the icon of propaganda film, with Riefenstahl longing to remain an actress and even become the next Marlene Dietrich. It is probably impossible to know how much of an apology for her life the book is, although the reader cannot help but admire her artistic vision and marvel at the truly amazing adventures she had (shooting movies on ice bergs which are breaking apart, for one!)
Although there are many incidents from her post war work, the majority of readers will be interested in the Nazi years. The question of whether she was genuinely ignorant of the abuses and horrors of Hitler and his cronies, or wheher she is trying to recast her personal life in light of them is one which nags at the reader at every turn. The answer will probably depend on the individual. In any case, the assertion that this is a dry and weak account is wrong and perhaps only points to the fact that it is best to approach the book with a (sceptical) open mind. Anyone interested in film history and pre and post war Germany will not be disapointed in the slightest!

Rating:
Summary: Controversial, Brilliant, at the Center of Recent History.
Review: This book may not be perfect. After all, this legendary person published it at the age of 90. Now she is celebrating her 99th birthday. Frankly,most of us will never live a life like this, and continue as we approach 100 years. It's easy to criticize people like Leni Riefenstahl, and her association with the Hitler gang. What would each of us done in a similar situation? Especially in the late 1930's when many, including our own hero C. Lindbergh, were infatuated with the German leader and his movement. In fact, her comments on Hitler ring true.She says she often took notes of their conversations,and always remembered everything he said.Read pp.105-108 on her first meeting with Hitler, and pp. 210-211 on their discussions about Paris and religion...She was a little like Albert Speer,both artists caught in the mystifying web of the Fuhrer, and the idea of rebuilding and remaking Germany, with themselves as leading lights. Whatever personal demons she fought then and later, she continued to live with amazing zeal and wonder of life. In her 70's she travelled to Africa meeting and photographing Nubian tribes. She was still snorkeling into her late 80's...Yes, much of the book drags, and she is showing herself in the best light, which most of us would tend to do. But all in all,an amazing life, and interesting,if overlong, book.