Dietrich & Riefenstahl: Hollywood, Berlin, and a Century in Two Lives

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

To be fair, the new dual biography Dietrich & Riefenstahl is both really well done and a great concept for a book; two German women of around the same age, both in the entertainment industry, and who even lived on the same street at one point in the Weimer Era, the fact that their lives took such wildly different directions after the rise of fascism (Marlene Dietrich turned her back on Nazism and moved to Hollywood, where she became a huge success among Allied audiences, while Leni Riefenstahl embraced Nazism, turned to avant-garde cinematography, show more and became just as huge a success among Axis audiences) says loads about Europe during the war, the historic split between left and right politics at the time, and the heartbreaking decisions that all Germans were forced to make in those years. No, the problem is that, at 600 densely packed and dryly written pages (which would easily be 900 pages under a normal layout), this was simply way more information than I was interested in, making the book a slog that I sort of gave up on about halfway through. A great title for those with a special interest in the subject, it's unfortunately a little too daunting for those like me with only a passing interest, and it should be kept in mind before picking it up.

Out of 10: 7.0, or 9.0 for those with a special interest in this subject show less

My interest in Lena Riefenstahl drew me to read this. What I knew of was limited to having been impressed by the few excerpts I had seen of her Third Reich movies. So I was completely satisfied for this fleshing out of her person, adding egomania and narcissism to balance her artistic vision.

The translation from German is occasionally clumsy and while reading it in the original would be beyond me, one gets the sense that some of the literal translations might have found a more English language metaphor.

Brief review can be found on my blog.

Happy reading!