GERMAN FILMMAKER LENI RIEFENSTAHL AND DOCUMENTARY AS A NARRATIVE OF A HISTORICAL PERIOD: THE MYSTIFICATION OF NAZISM?

Actress and director Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was the greatest figure within German Cinema during the Nazi period, which lasted from 1933 to 1945, and from this year onwards she became director within the Ministry of Propaganda, headed by Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945) and was soon promoted to protégé, and according to some, lover of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). She shot Triumph of the Will (1935), a recording of the 1934 Nazi Party convention in Nuremberg. An important consideration that she makes in her memoirs, is that she decided to bring to the documentary the production techniques that fiction cinema had already developed. Leni creates ubiquitous cinematic realities, the viewer is on the plane with Adolf Hitler, rides in his convertible, climbs onto the stage with him, follows his facial expressions and voice changes closely, he becomes a familiar figure. Leni innovated both in language and in the treatment of the subject, she creates a short fiction to justify all that public praise, all regions of Germany show solidarity with Hitler, just over a year after coming to power, his rule is complete. Like an actor giving a monologue he completely dominates the crowd, pauses, speaks softly, starts to get angry and ends up almost in a nervous delirium, and the audience loves it. However, the defects shown by the nazi leaders images, the sound of the voice, many shrill sounds, disjointed speeches, poorly controlled attitudes, from the speakers and the public, break the idea of ​​a people and leaders who are deified, chosen, superior. Leni Riefenstahl was a careerist, opportunist, but nazi is not the case, she was a clever director.