Hitler Favorite Celebrates Centenary

[Dave Monroe]

August 22, 2002
Hitler Favorite Celebrates Centenary
By REUTERS

Filed at 5:19 a.m. ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - Leni Riefenstahl, the legendary
film maker who became notorious as Adolf Hitler's
favorite director, celebrates her 100th birthday
today.

For decades Riefenstahl has endured as a
controversial, larger-than-life legend who has lived
life undaunted and undeterred by the passage of
time....

The director of ``Triumph of the Will,'' a documentary
on the 1934 Nazi Party rally at Nuremberg said in a
rare, recent interview she thought time was now
working against her.

[...]

WILL TRIUMPHS

Riefenstahl has been fighting her whole life.

As a young woman she strove for fame as a ballet
dancer and an actress and later as a film director.
She sought out Nazi dictator Hitler, who commissioned
``Triumph of the Will,'' and ``Olympia,'' her
pioneering film record of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

This artistic link to the Nazis, as well as rumors
which she has always denied of a romantic link with
Hitler, made Riefenstahl a pariah after the war.

Asked if she was unfairly cast out from her
profession, she said: ``Yes, I agree 100 percent.''

She defends her movies during the Nazi era as art and
said she does not deserve to be forever condemned for
this past.

Critics have accused her of failing to face up to
issues raised by her involvement with the Nazis.

[...]

Her latest film, a 50-minute work called ``Underwater
Impressions,'' is scheduled for release on her 100th
birthday on August 22 and will also be released on
DVD.

[...]

Riefenstahl's last film, ``Tiefland,'' was released in
1954, 14 years after the project started and was
interrupted by World War II.

[...]

SLOWING DOWN

Until recently, it seemed that nothing could slow
Riefenstahl down.

[...]

She is still talking about working beyond her
centennial celebration. ``Yes. I still have plans and
further projects. Especially to utilize my material of
the Nuba,'' she said.

[...]

Riefenstahl may yet receive a major blast of public
recognition in years to come when Hollywood star Jodie
Foster releases a film now at the planning stage on
her controversial life. 

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-film-leni.html

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