WARNING.....SLIGHT SPOILER!!!!
Leni Riefenstahl is fantastic in this film, which she directed, wrote, and starred in. This movie is generally considered to be a German 'mountain film', to which Refenstahl generally takes a great deal of influence from, though it came out significantly later than most of the films from that genre, such as `The White Hell of Piz Palu' (Die Weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü) or `Storm Over Mont Blanc' (Stürme über dem Mont Blanc) both of which Riefenstahl herself starred in.
This is a movie about nature and modern man's disrespect for it. Vigo, an urban citizen who comes to a village in the mountains, meets Junta (Riefenstahl), an outcast believed by most of the villagers to be a witch. Vigo discovers that Junta is the only person known to have climbed the mountain to the cave where a 'blue light' shines on every full moon. The light, which is believed by the villagers to hypnotize young men, is blamed for the countless deaths of the villagers who attempt to climb the mountain only to fall to their deaths. When Vigo discovers Junta and followers her to the cave, he realizes that the 'light' comes from millions of valuable jewels that lie in the walls of the mountain. Although by this point Vigo has formed a romantic relationship with Junta, instead of keeping the jewels a secret and thus, sacred (as Junta does) he decides to tell the villagers, who rape the mountain of its riches and become wealthy. The outcast Junta gets nothing, and is devastated because the light which once glimmered from the mountain is now gone.
Vito is constantly portrayed as a `Goethe type' - the 19th century archetype intellectual, and we know that he is used to symbolize the higher echelon of German society. Junta, however, is an outcast and a social misfit. She is filmed much like an animal of sorts...wearing rags, hunched over, and constantly running from villagers who want to stone her to death. When Junta and Vito get together, it becomes obviously unnatural and awkward. The fact that Junta and Vito also do not speak the same language is paramount to the notion that communication between nature and high society does not exist. In the end, he uses her knowledge, and chooses financial wealth over love. This is a message (albeit a depressing one) to modern civilization everywhere, delivered with expressionistic flair and a filmatic brilliance that won't be found anywhere else.
Leni Riefenstahl is fantastic in this film, which she directed, wrote, and starred in. This movie is generally considered to be a German 'mountain film', to which Refenstahl generally takes a great deal of influence from, though it came out significantly later than most of the films from that genre, such as `The White Hell of Piz Palu' (Die Weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü) or `Storm Over Mont Blanc' (Stürme über dem Mont Blanc) both of which Riefenstahl herself starred in.
This is a movie about nature and modern man's disrespect for it. Vigo, an urban citizen who comes to a village in the mountains, meets Junta (Riefenstahl), an outcast believed by most of the villagers to be a witch. Vigo discovers that Junta is the only person known to have climbed the mountain to the cave where a 'blue light' shines on every full moon. The light, which is believed by the villagers to hypnotize young men, is blamed for the countless deaths of the villagers who attempt to climb the mountain only to fall to their deaths. When Vigo discovers Junta and followers her to the cave, he realizes that the 'light' comes from millions of valuable jewels that lie in the walls of the mountain. Although by this point Vigo has formed a romantic relationship with Junta, instead of keeping the jewels a secret and thus, sacred (as Junta does) he decides to tell the villagers, who rape the mountain of its riches and become wealthy. The outcast Junta gets nothing, and is devastated because the light which once glimmered from the mountain is now gone.
Vito is constantly portrayed as a `Goethe type' - the 19th century archetype intellectual, and we know that he is used to symbolize the higher echelon of German society. Junta, however, is an outcast and a social misfit. She is filmed much like an animal of sorts...wearing rags, hunched over, and constantly running from villagers who want to stone her to death. When Junta and Vito get together, it becomes obviously unnatural and awkward. The fact that Junta and Vito also do not speak the same language is paramount to the notion that communication between nature and high society does not exist. In the end, he uses her knowledge, and chooses financial wealth over love. This is a message (albeit a depressing one) to modern civilization everywhere, delivered with expressionistic flair and a filmatic brilliance that won't be found anywhere else.