The Last of the Nuba

by Leni Riefenstahl

Text: English, German (translation)

Genres: Photography, Art, History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (German pronunciation: [ˈʁiːfənʃtaːl]; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party. Riefenstahl's prominence in the Third Reich along with her personal friendship with Adolf Hitler thwarted her film career following Germany's defeat in World War II, after which she was arrested but released without any charges.

Triumph of the Will gave Riefenstahl instant and lasting international fame, as well as infamy. Although she directed only eight films, just two of which received significant coverage outside of Germany, Riefenstahl was widely known all her life. The propaganda value of her films made during the 1930s repels most modern commentators but many film histories cite the aesthetics as outstanding.
The Economist wrote that Triumph of the Will "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century".

In the 1970s Riefenstahl published her still photography of the Nuba tribes in Sudan in several books such as The Last of the Nuba. She was active up until her death and also published marine life stills and released the marine-based film Impressionen unter Wasser in 2002.

After her death, the Associated Press described Riefenstahl as an "acclaimed pioneer of film and photographic techniques". Der Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin noted, "Leni Riefenstahl conquered new ground in the cinema". The BBC said her documentaries "were hailed as groundbreaking film-making, pioneering techniques involving cranes, tracking rails, and many cameras working at the same time".

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Or, How to succeed at fascist photography without really trying". Did the genius Leni Riefenstahl , director of TRIUMPH OF THE WILL and OLYMPIA compose a hymn to neo-Nazism in these photographs taken in Africa in the early Seventies, or simply a eulogy in color to a dying culture? The Nuba, an African warrior tribe descended from the once-mighty Nubian kingdom, whose homeland straddles the border between The Sudan and Egypt, allowed Leni to take pictures of their most sacred ceremony---a ritualized and potentially lethal wrestling fight between their toughest warriors, naked except for a loin cloth, their skins covered with dust and primitive make-up. The photographs, all in color, convey a portrait of beautiful danger, a dance of death and masculine pride. Back in America critic Susan Sontag blasted Riefenstahl for those very qualities, dubbing it "fascinating fascism". (You will find it in Sontag's essay collection, UNDER THE SIGN OF SATURN.) Leni had not changed her politics at all since her Nazi days, Sontag warned, only the color of the master race. In this case aesthetics=ethics=politics=fascism. Riefenstahl's response? "How could such an intelligent woman write such rubbish?". Her "I was only taking pictures" defense is as naive as Sontag's "there's Nazis in them there Africans". I will let the viewer decide, while I too mourn the demise of the macho Nuba.

[Sketchbook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning photographs by filmmaker w great documentarian eye. Of course, it takes the amoral & dishonest like Susan Sontag to first salute the Nuba pix and then later cry Foul ! for venal reasons.

[Elizabeth]

susan sontag essay on the book: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/m...

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best anthropologically infused photography ever. The fact that the author is someone whose mere existence triggers wokes is just an added bonus...and the fact that she later in life became so fascinating by the Nuba people itself a delicious bit of irony. Riefenstahl does show that while opinions can thankfully change with time, the ability to artistically capture aesthetic images was always one of her innate skills.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely, totally stunning, just like her later book, People of Kau. We are lucky to have these images.

[Brennan Fox]

I looked through this book a few times, trying to look at it through a different lens each time. I ultimately think with Susan Sontag's review is the best review of this book out there. Check it out for yourself http://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.e...

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely unPC nowadays
Also a questionable text from exNAZI supporter .... she was a great photographer.

[Solstice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Divine

[Santiago González · Rating 5 out of 5]

He visto muy buenos libros de fotografía, pero este es el mejor que he visto hasta la fecha.

[Barry Embling · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nuba people are presented beautifully in this extraordinary book, packed with photo's and a text full of observations and passion. Leni Riefenstahl is a gifted photographer and amateur anthropologist - with a slightly dubious but intriguing Nazi past.
She captures, just in time, these beautiful and happy people before the rest of the modern world swallowed them up forever. I found this book enlightening; learning about the customs, rites of passage and a self-assuredness that comes with a people who knew who they were and what to expect of their lives. This book made me question how we live in modern post industrial society, and how some of us measure success in the west. The photographs are breathtaking and a celebration of the beauty of the human body and culture.