Leni Riefenstahl Hsc Question Response Essay Example

Leni Riefenstahl Hsc Question Response Essay Example Leni Riefenstahl Hsc Question Response Essay Leni Riefenstahl Hsc Question Response Essay Describe the life of the personality you have studied. (10 Marks) From the very beginning, Leni Riefenstahl was a strong willed, determined and dedicated person. Her life was very complicated and interesting and can be described through many key events. These key events include her childhood, de-nazification and her various careers as a dancer, actress, film director/maker and photographer. Leni Riefenstahl was born in Berlin, 1902, in a strict family. She became very close with her mother Bertha, but her relationship with her father Alfred, was often strained. Throughout her teen years, Leni became a great skater, gymnast and swimmer due to her artistic talent. Following her childhood, Leni Riefenstahl became a brilliant dancer in the 1920s, during the time of the Weimar Republic. There was a free attmosphere at this time where many oppurtinities were available. Leni used this time wisely and took advantage of the careers she was intereted in. Also, her great, physical body (cult of the body) promoted her dancing career. She was an expressionistic dancer who was open to experimentation and improvisation. However, due to a knee injury during her career, she was unable to continue and left dancing for good. On her way to the doctors after her knee injury, Riefenstahl happened to see a poster of the film Mountain of Destiny, directed by Arnold Fanck. She was immediately interested and went to watch the film instead of repairing her knee. Her enthusiasm and strength of will led her to becoming an actress after seeing some of Fancks films. She began her career as an actress during the late 1920s/early 1930s. Her dedication and determination led her to achieving her goal and she starred in her first film The Holy Mountain. During these times Berg Films (Mountain Films) were very common and popular and thus, many of the films Leni starred in were Berg Films. As her acting career progressed, the director Fanck, became very ill and sick. He was unable to work anymore and due to Lenis strong will and disciplined mind, Fanck allowed her to continue directing. She completed irecting The Holy Mountain whilst starring in the film at the same time and soon, she began directing her own films. The Blue Light was the first film that Leni fully directed and was quite successful as it won many awards. Also, Lenis zeal and determination in the film attracted Hitlers attention. Hitler then asked her to film many of his speeches and rally films. She accepted and directed Victory of Faith, which was seen as a success to the Nazis. Hitler then asked her to film Triumph of the Will. She bowed to the innevitable and directed the film. Leni was the only female film director in the film industry as all other directors were men, making the men very jealous of her. Also, she had an advantage in film directing due to the forced migration of the Jews out of Germany by Hitler (most of the film directors were Jews). As well as a film director, Leni Riefenstahl also became a film editor, financer, writer, producer and film maker. She was known as a Film Auteur (all-round film maker) and the first woman in Germany to become one. An example is a documentary on the Berlin Olympics titled Olympia. It won many of awards due to Lenis supreme talent . During World War II, Leni was working on a Berg film titled Tiefland. However, when the war had ended, she was arrested by the Allies and production of the film stopped. She was accused of being a Nazi due to the close relationship with Hitler and the Nazis, so she was put on a de-nazification program where many tribunals were held to see if she was a Nazi. After many months, Leni was considered de-nazified, however, she found that she could not continue in film directing. Prior to her de-nazification, Leni undertook photography and recorded images of the Nuba people in Sudan. She then proceeded in underwater photography in her early 70s and continued into her 90s. Leni Riefenstahl died at the age of 101 in 2003 and was seen to many people, particularly women, as a feminist pioneer. In conclusion, the key events of Leni Riefenstahls life, such as her childhood, de-nazification and her various careers as a dancer, actress, film director/maker and photographer, as well as her stong will and determination, can be used to describe her life.