I finally had the stamina to get past the first ten minutes of "The Holy Mountain" (original title: "Der Heilige Berg") (1926), whose first ten minutes were, for me, so artsyphartsy (with the exception of the exceptional photography which was mesmerizing!) that it took the third try over a four day period to progress. The first ten minutes or so actually is entitled "Prologue". Starring Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker, Ernst Petersen, and three other minor characters, plus a lot of participants in village scenes and ski race scenes, though these are the actors, the humans who make the story go - - - the genuine star of this film is the incredible photography of cinematographers Sepp Algeier, Albert Benitz, Helmar Lerski, and Hans Schneeberger. The story is wrapped in a literary framework exploring the supremacy of Nature, the nature of Supreme Beauty, and the fact that some humans, though they might embrace one of those two as supreme beliefs, nevertheless are wired as all humans to have nearly incomprehensible, inexorable, and overwhelming emotional reactions to human love. In other words, by the end, forget philosophy, all humans are animals that behave with instincts, emotions, and desires difficult to overcome and channel into one simple philosophical way of living. The two men, Trenker and Petersen, both fall for the same girl, Riefenstahl - who, not conveniently at all, falls for both men, though in one scene near the end we see her say, "Vigo (Petersen) is just a child", the implication being that she'll settle for Trenker...and we as viewers are going, "Really?"
The story gets going after the first ten minutes. It develops very nicely; but after a half hour or so, it revs up in skiing scenes to a hot point. THEN, it really gets moving. The ski scenes are wonderfully done, but, again, it's the cinematography that is riveting, not necessarily the story. THEN, THEN...the story for about just short of an hour till end is heart-racing and a thriller. Extremely well done at this point, the human story is ever as gripping as the photography. Finally, the direction under Arnold Fanck and Leni Riefenstahl herself has immersed itself in its job of storytelling, still wrapped in beautiful photography, but minus the artsyphartsy goo that's been cramping the film's style.
This is the first of Riefenstahl and Fanck's supposed "mountain" films. In its own way it's a masterpiece, but I must tell you - for me, it was a challenge to get into this thing. I'm very glad I did, because the ensuing tragedy is Shakespearean, if not Sophoclean - with a caveat... The very ending - a small group of intertitles - is a great let-down, in my opinion, because the fact that Fanck makes the story suddenly ONLY about loyalty sounds a good deal like a call to personal nature needing to be politically sacrosanct to all things in life - a loyalty to what all humans must believe, in loyalty. Well, loyalty to what? I believe the film in its overall telling ends on a vague note about the issue. We've seen a sort of loyalty suddenly unleashed in trying to save the life of the best friend Trenker has, where just beforehand he'd betrayed him by taking that best friend up the dangerous face of a mountain during a horrific storm - this, to see if he'll make it or not - jealousy being the motive. But the intertitles at the end aren't referencing that segment of the film necessarily, but seem to imply a bigger, perhaps, political message. I saw a very ambiguous take-away when I finished watching.
The "friends" and their love, Leni, may have to answer to a higher power when they get past the veil - based on story in the film.
This is a Kino Video release from 2002.
