LENI RIEFENSTAHL, 1902-2003: The world is running out of centurians: filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who made "Triumph of the Will," "Olympia," and numerous other hagiographies of Hitler that are studied in film theory classes to this day, has died at the age of 101.
For the last word on Leni, we go to my old film professor Thomas Doherty:
She's the greatest living female filmmaker, but the feminists kind of have a problem with her, because she was a Nazi.
The headline of the Times obit, incidentally, refers to Riefenstahl as "controversial." It's rare for the NYT to identify ex-Nazi associates as such; usually they save "controversial" for Communists, '60s radicals, and Hamas members.
Posted by Stephen Silver at September 9, 2003 08:57 AM