I agree with everything you wrote on your mail. She was a genius in film making but NOTHING can ever excuse her participation under the Nazi regime. Because then one can always say that Hitler was just a crazy man so he couldn't help killing all those innocent people. S.B > I can't see how you can watch Triumph of the Will and conclude Riefenstahl > was just a naive victim. She was an active - and crucial - collaborator in > the creation of the Nazi propaganda machine. > > Certainly, she is a masterful filmmaker. That's what made her such an > effective architect of the Nazi aesthetic. > > -- Ted Friedman > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ron Leming" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2002 3:47 AM > Subject: Re: leni riefenstahl turns 100 today > > > I don't want to sound like I'm supporting Leni Riefenstahl entirely. I'm > not sure the truth will ever be known. As for there being a choice, I'm > not so sure about that. You mention Lang, Wilder and the Siodmaks, but > there's a very basic difference you're overlooking there. The examples > you mention are all men. Even today, women aren't represented all that > well in film making, though it's getting there. There may have been > other women film makers in the 40s, but I can't think of any. I'm not > THAT well educated in film, likely not as well as many on this list. But > I know what it feels like to want to do something so badly you'd very > nearly sell your soul for it. It's quite easy to look back at history > now and say this was a horrible thing. But we forget that, at the time, > many of the German people thought what was happening was a good thing > for Germany, and many didn't know about the activities of the SS and the > camps. And making the films she made, may have been, in her sight, the > only way she would be able to make films at all. And she is a good film > maker. > Even when I was in film school in UCLA 25 years ago, women in the film > school weren't taken as seriously or respected as well as the men. I > don't know if that's still true, but it wouldn't surprise me. And, I > find it reprehensible to blame anyone and everyone who didn't actively > contest and fight for what happened and hold them responsible for the > acts of others. She has always maintained that she didn't know what was > happening until it was too late. Until someone can prove, beyond a doudt > that she did know, I choose to believe her statement. > -- > If I ever die by being buried alive in something, I hope it's something > good. > Like boobs or chicken wings. > > http://www.bonestructure.net > > ---- > Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the > University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu > > ---- > Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the > University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu > ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite