Impressionen unter Wasser

Leni Riefenstahl begins the film by directly addressing the spectators on matters of sea life preservation, particularly coral reef life. When she said "healthy coral reefs" I could not restrain from wondering to what extent echos of "aryan" could be heard in the word "healthy," or "concentration camps" for "aquariums," a few seconds later. Such is the stain that surrounds her myth (a lesser word will not do in either case), that one may pull back in awe (even as the greenery behind her at some point eerily rustles, and the screen palpitates with a couple of subtle close-ups-and-outs or two). I, for one, align with the mockery-and-terror sentiment expressed by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, namely that Leni Riefenstahl may never die, such was her will to live (and maybe here we can trace the hatred she suffered because this overarching will-to-live was more Nazi/Nietzschean than her Nazi past)!

Yet there are no hypocritical masterpieces, or ideological ones, and this film is definitely a masterpiece. One risks passing by it as just another - however refined - underwater documentary. The film is a serene visionary testament, a quiet celebration of shape and color, organically rendered, disjointedly rendered, letting just the right sense of editing and camera movement interfere and guide matters.

Colors!

Shapes!

Movement and moving!

Fish faces!

So rich a film in its 44 minutes. The only suggestion I want to make is - given that there may be cheesy masterpieces - the film would greatly benefit from a more upbeat soundtrack, say a jazz one like in Jean Painleve's underwater (rive-gauche existential!) documentaries. As it is one risks making a tepid experience from a marvelous sense of matter-of-fact and fluidity. I hope we have soon a soundtrack with a masterful musical sense, the way the film does.

And as it is Leni Riefenstahl grazes past a monster of the deep century, schools and eels and surfaces (after a quite gray toning down of the film among the sharks towards the end), well, presumably into eternity.

I watched this film on an imported Hong Kong DVD, and it is spectacularly beautiful. I would guess that this was Riefensthal's last project. She was 98 years old at the time of making it, and some of the footage shows her swimming underwater (with a shock of white hair floating above her diving mask) and examining the aquatic wildlife up close. Presumably she did the majority of the editing, but she did have a camera operator to do the shooting. Giorgio Moroder's electronic synthesizer score is serenely beautiful, with occasional snatches of eeriness suitable for the more unnerving scenes such as a fragile, spindly shrimp-like creature nimbly scrambling into the gaping, sharp-toothed jaws of some large fierce-looking beast to clean its mouth. The dazzlingly myriad, colorful, and bizarre variety of forms that this undersea life takes outdoes the imaginations of the most outlandish science fiction writers and film-makers. No movie alien is stranger than these creatures.

At the start of the film Leni Riefensthal addresses the audience directly, in German (the DVD had English subtitles), explains the form and style of the film, and makes an urgent plea to preserve the great coral reefs and their fantastic wildlife. Watching this frail-looking woman of 98 earnestly making her case for the conservation of these natural wonders, it's easy to forget that she is still reviled by some for her role as Hitler's favorite documentary film-maker. Whatever guilt she may be perceived to bear for that, she paid a heavy price for it. Despite a few projects such as this film, and her still photography, it could be said that for the remainder of her life a potentially great artistic legacy in film was lost because of it - so much talent gone to waste.

This movie was shot over a period of several years and shows the amazing world under water. There's no comment, no plot, just images edited by Leni Riefenstahl and music by Georgio Moroder. Almost every single shot gives a different answer to the question "how can life on earth look like?".

I watched this film on TV, after a very busy day. I felt perfectly relaxed and amazed afterwards.

It's even more amazing that this project was developed by a woman who is almost 100 years old!

There's just one thing I'd like to criticize: The film is too short by just 45 minutes - there were a lot of creatures that I would have liked to watch a little longer.

Apart from this, I rate this one 10 out of 10.

The music in this film is terrible and distracting.

After her years of exile from the directing chair, Riefenstahl has created another masterpiece on par with her creative genius from her years in Nazi Germany. Thoroughly enjoyed and an all time classic. This movie through its amazing use of technology and innovation has presented the modern world with a final representation of Riefenstahl;s rare talent. "Impressionen Unter Wasser" is equally as powerful as "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia" and helps to portray Riefenstahl's belief that "form and content should coincide" as was seen in her production of "The Blue Light (1931)". The filming techniques in this masterpiece are well supplemented by the shear beauty of the sea and provide an insight into what exists across such a vars expanse of Earth.