Shame on ways of the West

Strange are the ways of the West. Artists and writers do not become famous for their creations alone. Many other factors - politics, for instance - play a significant role in determining their fate. But no politics can justify the way Leni Riefenstahl is being hoisted into the documentary filmmakers' hall of fame.

That the Nazi activist was a good filmmaker was never in doubt. There was never any doubt either about the innovative and creative superiority of many of her contemporaries and later generation directors. That is precisely what makes the West's tinted view of such artists a real tragedy.

Unfortunately, despite their versatility and pioneering contributions to the performing arts, Dziga Vertov is still the eccentric Russian with a camera and Joris Ivens is still the communist filmmaker. Unfortunately still, Sergei Eisenstein is just the creator of Battleship Potemkin and Robert Flaherty only the director of Nanook of the North. Almost unknown to the general public are Bert Haanstra (who gave us Glass) and Emile de Antonio, who made the Point of Order (on the McCarthy files) and The Year of the Pig (on the origins of the Vietnam War).