Tiefland (film)
Encyclopedia
Tiefland is a 1954 film that Leni Riefenstahl
scripted, directed, acted in, and edited. It was produced by Leni Riefenstahl and Josef Plesner. It is based on the opera Tiefland
(music by Eugen d'Albert
, libretto by Rudolph Lothar) and the original play Terra baixa
by Àngel Guimerà
. Tiefland was the last full feature film
of Riefenstahl as director and main actress. She started to develop the script in 1934, and shot the movie between 1940-44. The film, however, was not completed by the end of World War II
and eventually was finalized and released on February 11, 1954. It was listed as the feature film with the longest production time by the Guinness Book of World Records
. However, The Thief and the Cobbler
surpasses this record by 31 years from 1964 to 1995.
Riefenstahl’s movie is the second Tiefland film that is based on the opera, the first one being a silent film
in 1922, directed by Alfred Licho, with Lil Dagover
as the main actress. The earlier American silent movie Martha of the Lowlands (1914) was based on the English translation of a Spanish translation of Guimerà's play.
mountain hut when his herd is attacked by a lone wolf. He awakens to defend his sheep, and strangles the wolf. In the Catalan
lowlands (northeastern Spain), the construction of a canal is completed and diverts water from the farms and fields of the peasants to support the prized bulls of the landowner, Don Sebastian, marquis of Roccabruno. The request of the peasants for water is arrogantly rejected. He has, however, significant debts and needs money. The rich Amelia plans to marry him, but he offends her. Martha, a “beggar dancer”, has come to the village, and entertains the people. Sebastian sees her and takes her to his castle, enchanted by her beauty and grace. He keeps her as his mistress in a "golden cage". Martha pleads with him to listen to the plight of the peasants, but he rejects their request again. Seeing his arrogance and inhumanity she runs away. She collapses in exhaustion in the mountains where Pedro finds her and takes her to his hut. Sebastian's men locate her and return her to the castle. Sebastian in dire need to settle his finances conjures a plan. He will marry Amelia, but to keep Martha as a mistress, - he wants her married to somebody he can manipulate and control. Pedro is asked to marry her and installed in a mill under Sebastian’s control. For this Martha despises Pedro at first, but once she realizes that he married her out of love she responds. Sebastian arrives to be with his mistress. A fight ensues, and Pedro strangles him like he had done with the wolf. In the final scene Pedro and Martha walk up to the mountains.
films. After the beginning of World War II
, and disturbed by atrocities she witnessed, she had herself dispensed from shooting war documentaries. Using her influence as Hitler’s favorite film maker she managed her own production company, Riefenstahl Film, GmbH, independently of the control of Joseph Goebbels
who oversaw cultural and propaganda activities. Financed by Hitler with money from the Nazi party and the government, she remained outside of Goebbels’ control. Goebbels eventually was not unhappy about it as the project ran into difficulties and cost overruns. Resuming her work on Tiefland, Riefenstahl started filming in Spain in 1940, but forced by war events soon shifted her work to the Alps, in Germany in the Karwendel
and in Italy in the Rosengarten of the Dolomites
, as well as the Babelsberg Studios
in Berlin. Near Mittenwald
, the Spanish village of Roccabruno was reconstructed. Although the German press anticipated the release of the movie in 1941, the production proved to be much more difficult and costly and outdoor shooting lasted until 1944. In 1941, Goebbels had complained about the "waste of money", and one year later called it a "rat’s nest of entanglements". Problems were compounded by Riefenstahl’s depression and other ailments, weather issues, accidents, and the difficulty of getting actors and staff organized during the war. Eventually, at a cost of about 8.5 million Reichsmark, Tiefland was the most expensive b/w movie produced in Nazi Germany. After the bombing of the Babelsberg studios in Berlin, the Barrandov Studios
in Prague
were used to further the work, and by the time the war came to the end, Riefenstahl was in the editing and synchronization process at Kitzbühl.
Riefenstahl took the female lead role of Martha, a step that was not originally planned; however, she found no actress to her liking available at the time, and so she did it. Her last major role had been a decade before. She may have been attracted to play a dancer, as dancing was her original artistic calling. She later regretted the decision, as she looked much too old by her own account. "When I saw myself on the screen, I was embarrassed. There was no doubt about it, I was miscast." Critics seemed to agree: she was over forty, while her lover was played by the 23 year-old Franz Eichberger.
Although Tiefland was Riefenstahl’s movie, she had excellent people to work with. Bernard Minetti played Sebastian. Arnold Fanck
, Veit Harlan
and Georg Wilhelm Pabst
all gave directorial assistance at one time or the other. Harald Reinl
, who co-wrote the script, choreographed her dancing scene. Herbert Windt
and Giuseppe Becce
worked on the musical score that was inspired by Eugen d'Albert’s opera. The camera work delivered later well-received nature shots of the Karwendel and Dolomite mountains. The wrestling scene of Eichberger with the only half-tamed wolf was supervised by Bernhard Grzimek
.
After the war, the film was confiscated and kept by French authorities for several years, but eventually returned to her. Four reels of film were missing when Riefenstahl received the film, notably the scenes shot in Spain. Despite efforts she failed to retrieve the missing footage. After its final editing, the movie was released in 1954.
Riefenstahl deposited a quantity of unused Tiefland material with the Bundesarchiv, the German national archives.
.
Riefenstahl embarked on a personal appearances tour of Austria in support of the film. She described the tour as "a roaring success".
The film was also screened at several film festivals. This included the 1954 Cannes Film Festival
where it was screened in the 'out of competition' category.
In 1981, the movie was released in the United States with a limited run. When Riefenstahl was ninety, she negotiated the VHS release as part of the Leni Riefenstahl Collection. The 2006 DVD version has an essay by Luc Deneulin on the background to the movie.
Jean Cocteau
, then chairman of the 1954 Cannes Film Festival
was struck by its "Breughel-like intensity" and "the poetry of the camera." He offered to provide French subtitles himself and attempted to persuade the West German government to make the film its official entry.
On the 1981 American re-release, The New York Times reviewed the film, deciding that the village scenes could have been more successful but heaped praise on the mountain footage:
The revisionist view of the 1990s has suggested that the film is a criticism of Nazism. Historians have claimed that the film's true value is as a psychobiography
, stressing the film as a political allegory rather than melodrama. Sebastian represents a totalitarian government that tramples the rights and needs of the people, and Pedro is a hero who is "naive" and apolitical, only doing what he thinks is right. Even the wolf could be construed as an allegory for Hitler. Riefenstahl insisted that none of her movies had any political messages, and only conceded that this movie was her "inner emigration". Other interpretations saw the marquis as a representant of a Hitler figure, Martha as a stand-in for a repentant Leni, an unfortunate tempted by opportunism.
(Bergfilm). In a typical Bergfilm, it is man versus nature; in Riefenstahl's movie nature is always present, underscoring the human drama that unfolds. She contrasts the pure and free mountain atmosphere with the soiled and corrupt world in the lowlands. Pedro, the naive hero, is a man of the mountains, in touch with nature, true to himself and his own feelings. At the beginning of the movie, in a prequel
without dialogue, he strangles the lone wolf. In contrast, Sebastian, his antagonist, is a man driven by power and lust, imbued in grand projects to glorify his vain ambitions. While Martha may be initially attracted to him, she is appalled when she recognizes how he mistreats the people. His power, however, is constrained by economic realities and for this he needs financial support. Dictatorship and capitalism work together not for the benefit of the people, but for their own selfish goals. The schemes Sebastian conjures to satisfy his needs ultimately lead to his downfall. The “beggar dancer”, Martha, ostensibly is a gypsy and dancing is "in (her) blood". She stands on her own, beyond the classes of the common people or the nobility. Martha rejects the temptation and trappings of power, once she realizes that this is at the cost of the welfare the people. She also refuses Pedro initially until she recognizes his motive. She insists on making her own choice.
were recruited as (paid) extras. However, for extras with a specific "Spanish look", Riefenstahl picked children and adults of Roma and Sinti
background who were held in Nazi collection camps, so-called "Zigeunerlager". Fifty-one Roma and Sinti prisoners were chosen from the Maxglan-Leopoldskron camp (near Salzburg
) for filming in the Alps in 1940, and, in 1942, at least 66 Roma and Sinti prisoners were taken from the Marzahn
camp for scenes at Babelsberg. These extras are seen, for instance, in the dancing sequence in the tavern, and Sinti children run alongside Pedro when he comes down from the mountain to marry Martha.
In three denazification
trials after the war, Riefenstahl was accused of Nazi collaboration and eventually termed a "fellow traveler"; however, none of the Sinti was asked to testify. The issue surfaced after the German magazine Revue published the use of these extras in 1949 and indicated that they were forced labor and sent later to Auschwitz where many of them perished in the holocaust. While some of the surviving Sinti claimed that they were mistreated, others dissented. Riefenstahl claimed that she treated these extras well, and that she was not aware that they were going to be sent to Auschwitz. At one point she even insisted that, after the war, she had seen "all the gypsies" who had worked on the film.
In 1982, Nina Gladitz produced a documentary Zeit des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (Time of Darkness and Silence) and examined the use of these Sinti in the making of Tiefland. Riefenstahl subsequently sued Gladitz for defamation and while it was shown that she visited camps and selected Sinti for extras, Gladitz’ claim that Riefenstahl knew that they would be sent to Auschwitz had to be stricken from the documentary. Gladitz, however, refused to do so, and thus her film has not been shown since.
The issue surfaced again in 2002, when Riefenstahl was one hundred years old
. She was taken to court by a Roma group for denial of the extermination of the gypsies
. As a consequence of the case Riefensthal made the following apology, "I regret that Sinti & Roma had to suffer during the period of National Socialism. It is known today that many of them were murdered in concentration camps."
indicated that James Cameron
, when making the movie Titanic
, echoes much of what can be found in Tiefland. The setting, of course is different, but the woman is tempted on one side by power and riches, and on the other side there is the unspoiled character who offers true love. Von Dassanowsky sees parallels in key scenes from both movies.
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl 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 , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
scripted, directed, acted in, and edited. It was produced by Leni Riefenstahl and Josef Plesner. It is based on the opera Tiefland
Tiefland (opera)
Tiefland is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Eugen d'Albert, to a libretto in German by Rudolph Lothar. Based on the 1896 Catalan play Terra baixa by Àngel Guimerà, Tiefland was d'Albert's seventh opera, and is the one which is now the best known.-Performance history:Tiefland was first...
(music by Eugen d'Albert
Eugen d'Albert
Eugen Francis Charles d'Albert was a Scottish-born German pianist and composer.Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, he won a scholarship to study in Austria...
, libretto by Rudolph Lothar) and the original play Terra baixa
Terra baixa
Terra baixa is a Catalan-language play written by Àngel Guimerà in 1896. The drama is considered his most popular work, having become an international sensation after its premiere. It served as the basis for an opera, Tiefland, by Eugen d'Albert, which in turn served as the basis for two films,...
by Àngel Guimerà
Àngel Guimerà
Àngel Guimerà i Jorge was a Spanish Canarian writer, born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, to a Catalan father and a Canary islander mother...
. Tiefland was the last full feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
of Riefenstahl as director and main actress. She started to develop the script in 1934, and shot the movie between 1940-44. The film, however, was not completed by the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and eventually was finalized and released on February 11, 1954. It was listed as the feature film with the longest production time by the Guinness Book of World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
. However, The Thief and the Cobbler
The Thief and the Cobbler
The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated feature film, famous for its animation and its long, troubled history. The film was conceived by Canadian animator Richard Williams, who worked 28 years on the project. Beginning production in 1964, Williams intended The Thief and the Cobbler to be his...
surpasses this record by 31 years from 1964 to 1995.
Riefenstahl’s movie is the second Tiefland film that is based on the opera, the first one being a silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
in 1922, directed by Alfred Licho, with Lil Dagover
Lil Dagover
Lil Dagover was a German stage, film and television actress whose career spanned nearly six decades.-Early life:...
as the main actress. The earlier American silent movie Martha of the Lowlands (1914) was based on the English translation of a Spanish translation of Guimerà's play.
Plot summary
Pedro, a shepherd, is sleeping in his PyreneanPyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
mountain hut when his herd is attacked by a lone wolf. He awakens to defend his sheep, and strangles the wolf. In the Catalan
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
lowlands (northeastern Spain), the construction of a canal is completed and diverts water from the farms and fields of the peasants to support the prized bulls of the landowner, Don Sebastian, marquis of Roccabruno. The request of the peasants for water is arrogantly rejected. He has, however, significant debts and needs money. The rich Amelia plans to marry him, but he offends her. Martha, a “beggar dancer”, has come to the village, and entertains the people. Sebastian sees her and takes her to his castle, enchanted by her beauty and grace. He keeps her as his mistress in a "golden cage". Martha pleads with him to listen to the plight of the peasants, but he rejects their request again. Seeing his arrogance and inhumanity she runs away. She collapses in exhaustion in the mountains where Pedro finds her and takes her to his hut. Sebastian's men locate her and return her to the castle. Sebastian in dire need to settle his finances conjures a plan. He will marry Amelia, but to keep Martha as a mistress, - he wants her married to somebody he can manipulate and control. Pedro is asked to marry her and installed in a mill under Sebastian’s control. For this Martha despises Pedro at first, but once she realizes that he married her out of love she responds. Sebastian arrives to be with his mistress. A fight ensues, and Pedro strangles him like he had done with the wolf. In the final scene Pedro and Martha walk up to the mountains.
Production
Riefenstahl began working on the script in 1934, but shelved it when she became more involved with Nazi propagandaNazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
films. After the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and disturbed by atrocities she witnessed, she had herself dispensed from shooting war documentaries. Using her influence as Hitler’s favorite film maker she managed her own production company, Riefenstahl Film, GmbH, independently of the control of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
who oversaw cultural and propaganda activities. Financed by Hitler with money from the Nazi party and the government, she remained outside of Goebbels’ control. Goebbels eventually was not unhappy about it as the project ran into difficulties and cost overruns. Resuming her work on Tiefland, Riefenstahl started filming in Spain in 1940, but forced by war events soon shifted her work to the Alps, in Germany in the Karwendel
Karwendel
The Karwendel is the largest range of the Northern Limestone Alps. Four chains stretch from west to east; in addition, there are a number of fringe ranges and an extensive promontory in the north....
and in Italy in the Rosengarten of the Dolomites
Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...
, as well as the Babelsberg Studios
Babelsberg Studios
The Studio Babelsberg, located in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Founded in 1912, it covers an area of about . Hundreds of films, including Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel were filmed there...
in Berlin. Near Mittenwald
Mittenwald
Mittenwald is a German municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria.-Geography:Mittenwald is located approx. 16 kilometers to the south-east of Garmisch-Partenkirchen...
, the Spanish village of Roccabruno was reconstructed. Although the German press anticipated the release of the movie in 1941, the production proved to be much more difficult and costly and outdoor shooting lasted until 1944. In 1941, Goebbels had complained about the "waste of money", and one year later called it a "rat’s nest of entanglements". Problems were compounded by Riefenstahl’s depression and other ailments, weather issues, accidents, and the difficulty of getting actors and staff organized during the war. Eventually, at a cost of about 8.5 million Reichsmark, Tiefland was the most expensive b/w movie produced in Nazi Germany. After the bombing of the Babelsberg studios in Berlin, the Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios is a famous set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe.Several of the movies filmed there won Academy Awards...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
were used to further the work, and by the time the war came to the end, Riefenstahl was in the editing and synchronization process at Kitzbühl.
Riefenstahl took the female lead role of Martha, a step that was not originally planned; however, she found no actress to her liking available at the time, and so she did it. Her last major role had been a decade before. She may have been attracted to play a dancer, as dancing was her original artistic calling. She later regretted the decision, as she looked much too old by her own account. "When I saw myself on the screen, I was embarrassed. There was no doubt about it, I was miscast." Critics seemed to agree: she was over forty, while her lover was played by the 23 year-old Franz Eichberger.
Although Tiefland was Riefenstahl’s movie, she had excellent people to work with. Bernard Minetti played Sebastian. Arnold Fanck
Arnold Fanck
Arnold Fanck was a pioneer of the German mountain film....
, Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan was a German film director and actor.-Life and career:Harlan was born in Berlin. After studying under Max Reinhardt, he first appeared on the stage in 1915 and, after World War I, worked in the Berlin stage. In 1922 he married Jewish actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson; the couple...
and Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
-Biography:Pabst was born in Raudnitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary , the son of a railroad employee.Returning from the United States, he was in France when World War I began...
all gave directorial assistance at one time or the other. Harald Reinl
Harald Reinl
Harald Reinl was an Austrian film director. He is especially known for the movies he made based on Edgar Wallace and Karl May books .He started his career as an extra in the mountain-films of Arnold Fanck...
, who co-wrote the script, choreographed her dancing scene. Herbert Windt
Herbert Windt
Herbert Windt was a German composer who became one of the most significant film score composers of the Third Reich...
and Giuseppe Becce
Giuseppe Becce
Giuseppe Becce was an Italian-born film score composer who enriched the German cinema.- Biography :Becce was born in Lonigo/Vicenza, Italy. He showed his musical talents early and was named the director of the student musical orchestra at the Padua University when he studied geography...
worked on the musical score that was inspired by Eugen d'Albert’s opera. The camera work delivered later well-received nature shots of the Karwendel and Dolomite mountains. The wrestling scene of Eichberger with the only half-tamed wolf was supervised by Bernhard Grzimek
Bernhard Grzimek
Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek was a renowned Silesian-German zoo director, zoologist, book author, editor, and animal conservationist in postwar West-Germany.-Early years:Grzimek was born in Neisse , Upper Silesia...
.
After the war, the film was confiscated and kept by French authorities for several years, but eventually returned to her. Four reels of film were missing when Riefenstahl received the film, notably the scenes shot in Spain. Despite efforts she failed to retrieve the missing footage. After its final editing, the movie was released in 1954.
Riefenstahl deposited a quantity of unused Tiefland material with the Bundesarchiv, the German national archives.
Release
The film secured distribution agreements for Germany, Austria and the United States in 1954. The world premiere was held on 11 February 1954 in StuttgartStuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
Riefenstahl embarked on a personal appearances tour of Austria in support of the film. She described the tour as "a roaring success".
The film was also screened at several film festivals. This included the 1954 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
where it was screened in the 'out of competition' category.
In 1981, the movie was released in the United States with a limited run. When Riefenstahl was ninety, she negotiated the VHS release as part of the Leni Riefenstahl Collection. The 2006 DVD version has an essay by Luc Deneulin on the background to the movie.
Reception
The film was released to a mixed reception. Riefenstahl regarded the response as "objective". Some critics decided that the style and topic of the movie appeared dated and out of touch, and the burden of her name made it unwelcome. Most ignored her acting performance, although this was recognised by those that commented as a weak performance. Almost all reviewers acknowledged photographic effects of unusual beauty and praised her direction.Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
, then chairman of the 1954 Cannes Film Festival
1954 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Jean Cocteau *Jean Aurenche *André Bazin *Luis Buñuel*Henri Calef *Guy Desson *Philippe Erlanger *Michel Fourre-Cormeray *Jacques-Pierre Frogerais...
was struck by its "Breughel-like intensity" and "the poetry of the camera." He offered to provide French subtitles himself and attempted to persuade the West German government to make the film its official entry.
On the 1981 American re-release, The New York Times reviewed the film, deciding that the village scenes could have been more successful but heaped praise on the mountain footage:
The revisionist view of the 1990s has suggested that the film is a criticism of Nazism. Historians have claimed that the film's true value is as a psychobiography
Psychobiography
Psychobiography aims to understand historically significant individuals such as artists, political leaders, and so on, through the application of psychological theory and research...
, stressing the film as a political allegory rather than melodrama. Sebastian represents a totalitarian government that tramples the rights and needs of the people, and Pedro is a hero who is "naive" and apolitical, only doing what he thinks is right. Even the wolf could be construed as an allegory for Hitler. Riefenstahl insisted that none of her movies had any political messages, and only conceded that this movie was her "inner emigration". Other interpretations saw the marquis as a representant of a Hitler figure, Martha as a stand-in for a repentant Leni, an unfortunate tempted by opportunism.
Comments
Much of the film was shot in the Alps in the tradition of the German mountain filmMountain film
A mountain film is a film genre that focuses on mountaineering and especially the battle of man against nature. In addition to mere adventure, the protagonists who return from the mountain come back changed, usually gaining wisdom and enlightenment....
(Bergfilm). In a typical Bergfilm, it is man versus nature; in Riefenstahl's movie nature is always present, underscoring the human drama that unfolds. She contrasts the pure and free mountain atmosphere with the soiled and corrupt world in the lowlands. Pedro, the naive hero, is a man of the mountains, in touch with nature, true to himself and his own feelings. At the beginning of the movie, in a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
without dialogue, he strangles the lone wolf. In contrast, Sebastian, his antagonist, is a man driven by power and lust, imbued in grand projects to glorify his vain ambitions. While Martha may be initially attracted to him, she is appalled when she recognizes how he mistreats the people. His power, however, is constrained by economic realities and for this he needs financial support. Dictatorship and capitalism work together not for the benefit of the people, but for their own selfish goals. The schemes Sebastian conjures to satisfy his needs ultimately lead to his downfall. The “beggar dancer”, Martha, ostensibly is a gypsy and dancing is "in (her) blood". She stands on her own, beyond the classes of the common people or the nobility. Martha rejects the temptation and trappings of power, once she realizes that this is at the cost of the welfare the people. She also refuses Pedro initially until she recognizes his motive. She insists on making her own choice.
Controversy
In 1940, shooting of the movie was moved from Spain to Germany and Italy. In the Dolomites, people from the SarntalSarntal
Sarntal is a valley and a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 70 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 15 km north of the city of Bolzano....
were recruited as (paid) extras. However, for extras with a specific "Spanish look", Riefenstahl picked children and adults of Roma and Sinti
Sinti
Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...
background who were held in Nazi collection camps, so-called "Zigeunerlager". Fifty-one Roma and Sinti prisoners were chosen from the Maxglan-Leopoldskron camp (near Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
) for filming in the Alps in 1940, and, in 1942, at least 66 Roma and Sinti prisoners were taken from the Marzahn
Marzahn
Marzahn is a locality within the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform led to the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf fusing into a single new borough...
camp for scenes at Babelsberg. These extras are seen, for instance, in the dancing sequence in the tavern, and Sinti children run alongside Pedro when he comes down from the mountain to marry Martha.
In three denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
trials after the war, Riefenstahl was accused of Nazi collaboration and eventually termed a "fellow traveler"; however, none of the Sinti was asked to testify. The issue surfaced after the German magazine Revue published the use of these extras in 1949 and indicated that they were forced labor and sent later to Auschwitz where many of them perished in the holocaust. While some of the surviving Sinti claimed that they were mistreated, others dissented. Riefenstahl claimed that she treated these extras well, and that she was not aware that they were going to be sent to Auschwitz. At one point she even insisted that, after the war, she had seen "all the gypsies" who had worked on the film.
In 1982, Nina Gladitz produced a documentary Zeit des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (Time of Darkness and Silence) and examined the use of these Sinti in the making of Tiefland. Riefenstahl subsequently sued Gladitz for defamation and while it was shown that she visited camps and selected Sinti for extras, Gladitz’ claim that Riefenstahl knew that they would be sent to Auschwitz had to be stricken from the documentary. Gladitz, however, refused to do so, and thus her film has not been shown since.
The issue surfaced again in 2002, when Riefenstahl was one hundred years old
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
. She was taken to court by a Roma group for denial of the extermination of the gypsies
Porajmos
The Porajmos was the attempt made by Nazi Germany, the Independent State of Croatia, Horthy's Hungary and their allies to exterminate the Romani people of Europe during World War II...
. As a consequence of the case Riefensthal made the following apology, "I regret that Sinti & Roma had to suffer during the period of National Socialism. It is known today that many of them were murdered in concentration camps."
Influence
Von DassanowskyRobert von Dassanowsky
Robert von Dassanowsky FRHistS, FRSA is an Austrian-American academic, writer, film and cultural historian, and producer...
indicated that James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
, when making the movie Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, echoes much of what can be found in Tiefland. The setting, of course is different, but the woman is tempted on one side by power and riches, and on the other side there is the unspoiled character who offers true love. Von Dassanowsky sees parallels in key scenes from both movies.