Riefenstahl

Certainly for a contemporary audience, Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) is by far the best-known director who worked for the Nazis. She owes her enduring fame to the cinematic bravado of her innovative and still influential propaganda documentaries, such as Triumph des Willens (about the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, 1934) and Olympia (about the Berlin Olympics, 1936).

Perhaps equally notorious is the tenacity with which she insisted on her own historical innocence, and that of her aesthetics: yes, she had been impressed by Hitler, but had merely seized an opportunity to use her talents.

For this fascinating portrait, Andres Veiel, an eminent chronicler of recent German history, had access for the first time to a wealth of private material from the estate of Riefenstahl and her partner Horst Kettner, who was 40 years her junior. By no means did this soften Veiel’s attitude towards Riefenstahl. More than in previous films about her, it becomes clear how much she longed to be seen in a favorable light, wallowing in self-righteous victimhood. Above all, Veiel shows that Riefenstahl could not have been unaware of the cruel fate of her employees and extras.