From JOHN007 at prodigy.net  Sat Aug  1 14:54:16 2009
From: JOHN007 at prodigy.net (John)
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:54:16 -0400
Subject: [LEN-E] Student film portrayal of Leni on YouTube
Message-ID: <4A748F58.7090006@prodigy.net>

I just ran across this student film short called "The Last Days of
Leni Riefenstahl" on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9xZPB54CWY

It's slanted negatively toward Leni and some bits made me rather angry, 
  yet it seemed amazingly well done from a technical production 
standpoint (acting, lighting, production values, etc).

I've only had time to view it once, very hastily, but since I hadn't 
seen it mentioned here, I thought it worthy of mention.

What did you all think?

I didn't understand the rather hateful references to SCHLINDER'S LIST 
and Helen Keller that are included, as I've never heard that Leni said 
any such things or anything close.

I suppose now that she has passed on there are going to be plenty of 
negative and fictionalized portrayals, which seems unfair.  I can only 
hope that Horst has a thick skin!

I do wish Jodie Foster would get her project going (which I hope against 
hope will at least be more balanced and fair towards Leni).  Has anyone 
heard anything recently about the Foster project?

So far the most interesting portrayal of Leni I've seen was Frances 
Barber's female filmmaker "Helga Bauer" (very clearly Leni, renamed for 
legality's sake!) in THE NIGHTMARE YEARS, which I thought portrayed 
Leni's artistic drive well, as well as her functioning as a filmmaker 
within the regime, but of course it, too, was one-dimensional, being 
only a small part of a larger whole.

I recently ordered the Region 2 UK version of THE NIGHTMARE YEARS on DVD 
and was pleased to discover that all of the "Helga Bauer" scenes are on 
the DVD.   (The USA VHS release was shortened, and most of those scenes 
were eliminated)   I did a compilaton of the "Bauer" scenes years ago 
from my own off-the-air complete VHS of NIGHTMARE YEARS, and discovered 
that all the "Bauer"/Leni scenes when compiled run some 30 minutes or 
so.  So the character did have a significant amount of screen time.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it interesting to watch "Leni" at work 
and see her in the period mileu as portrayed in NIGHTMARE YEARS.

Have there been any other film portrayals?  Seems as though I heard 
about a production for German or French TV.  Was that ever completed?

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention the "Last Days" YouTube short since, 
  negative or not, it does represent yet another media interpretation 
(or perhaps misinterpretation?!) of Leni.


Best wishes,
John


From roelvanderlist at home.nl  Sun Aug  2 06:11:42 2009
From: roelvanderlist at home.nl (Roel van der List)
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2009 12:11:42 +0200
Subject: [LEN-E] Student film portrayal of Leni on YouTube
In-Reply-To: <4A748F58.7090006@prodigy.net>
References: <4A748F58.7090006@prodigy.net>
Message-ID: <5D59316C-DE83-4A9A-B7EC-E6E49159A4EE@home.nl>


Op 1-aug-2009, om 20:54 heeft John het volgende geschreven:

> I just ran across this student film short called "The Last Days of
> Leni Riefenstahl" on YouTube.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9xZPB54CWY
>
> It's slanted negatively toward Leni and some bits made me rather  
> angry,  yet it seemed amazingly well done from a technical  
> production standpoint (acting, lighting, production values, etc).

Hi, I've taken a quick look at it.  The students who made it put a  
lot of effort in it. Didn't have time to analyse it yet. I also had a  
glance at the reactions from people: my god......

Thanks for pointing this film out. I'll have a better look in a few  
days and let you know what I think of it.

Greeting from the Netherlands,

Roel

>
> I've only had time to view it once, very hastily, but since I  
> hadn't seen it mentioned here, I thought it worthy of mention.
>
> What did you all think?
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
> John
>
> _______________________________________________
> NOTE 1: PLEASE TRIM THE QUOTED PORTION(S) OF YOUR REPLIES!
> NOTE 2: IF YOU CHANGE TOPIC, CHANGE THE SUBJECT HEADING!
> List Info: http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/len-e/
> Your List Options: http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/options/len-e/
> List Archives: http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/len-e/
> To Unsubscribe: mailto:len-e-request at riefenstahl.org? 
> subject=unsubscribe

Roel van der List
Burgemeester Joostenlaan 17
6019 BX Wessem
Tel: 0475-562708
roelvanderlist at home.nl
http://home.fotocommunity.de/graphiclist/index.php?id=499045