Riefenstahl
Explores Leni Riefenstahl's artistic legacy and her complex ties to the Nazi regime, juxtaposing her self-portrayal with evidence suggesting awareness of the regime's atrocities. (NR, 115 min.)
Filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. Her films Triumph of the Will and Olympia are defined by their fascist aesthetics, perfectly-staged body worship, and the celebration of all that is "superior" and victorious, simultaneously projecting contempt for the imperfect and weak. But Riefenstahl – who first broke into the German film industry as an actress – spent decades after the war denying her association with Nazi ideology, and claiming ignorance of the Holocaust. How did she become the Reich's preeminent filmmaker if she was just a hired hand? Riefenstahl examines this question using never-before-seen documents from Leni Riefenstahl's estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters, uncovering fragments of her biography and placing them in an extended historical context. During her long life after the fall of Nazism, she remained unapologetic, managing to control and shape her legacy; in personal documents, she mourns her "murdered ideals." Meanwhile, her work would experience a renaissance, gaining esteem for its masterful technical skill. Today, Riefenstahl's aesthetics are more present than ever. Is that also true for their message? In an era where fascism is on the rise again, fake news is prevalent, and the meaning of political imagery is constantly dissected and debated, Andres Veiel's mesmerizing new film shows that Leni Reifenstahl is more relevant than ever. [Kino Lorber]
Director: Andres Veiel
Language: German with English Subtitles
Genre: History, Biography, Documentary
"A slice of dark history that speaks (eloquently, implicitly) to present-day tensions."
— Xan Brooks, The Guardian
"Sobering and profoundly eerie. A masterful documentary… about political evasion, self-preservation and the limits of denial."
— Kevin Maher, The Times
"Coolly damning... shrewdly edited. A welcome addition to the historically grounded rebukes to Riefenstahl and her apologists."
— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
"If there’s still anyone uncritically repeating Riefenstahl’s narrative of naïveté, they’ll find it hard to sustain by the end credits."
— Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine
"Mr. Veiel has performed a remarkable feat of archival spelunking, piecing together a documentary portrait that is measured in tone and damning in effect."
— Zachary Barnes, Wall Street Journal
"This documentary wants to get to the truth. But even if you’ve already made your own mind up -- I had! -- it’s still a mesmerising portrait of the kind of person who cannot give up on the lies they’ve told themselves."
— Deborah Ross, The Spectator
"A valuable and arresting… meditation on Riefenstahl — her life, her art, the question of her guilt. And one of the things it does is to remind you of what a singularly provocative and insidious and mysterious figure she was."
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
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