The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl

This is a very interesting documentary about the life and accomplishments of Leni Riefenstahl. It is a more “balanced” view of the movie star/director then some of the material about her that I have read.
The documentary does not take a position on her connection with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. It catches Leni out on some of her evasions on the topic.
But, I believe that she was basically unpolitical. She does admit to a great admiration of Adolf Hitler. But, very few in Germany at the time, did not admire his leadership.
She was a woman in a very male dominated culture – especially in Germany between the wars. She was very ambitious and used whatever means got her the money and the opportunity to learn and produce her documentaries and movies. She used men to further her ambitions and did not always give her colleagues and partners credit for her productions. But, being a woman in a male domination “macho” culture, how else was she to further her ambitions? The documentary does not go into this, but it is implied in the historical record.
The documentary is particularly interesting in showing the immense contributions in developing the technology and techniques she made in film-making.
It shows her as a feisty lady who still loves and is proud of her accomplishments.

This lady seems to be quite ahead of her time when she did all these recording for the Nazi Party and Hitler.She was very good at reporting all that was happening at that time.

二十世紀現代史的にも、映画史的にも、あまりにも有名なリーフェンシュタール。実際に観ることができるのは、とりわけその監督作品に関しては、オリンピック映画を始め少数であり、今後もなかなか期待はできないところである。その失望を補う作品。制作者、レイ・ミュラーの見識と勇気に拍手するべきであろう。リーフェンシュタールの自伝はもちろん、必読であるが、この伝記を読んでから、この映像を見ると、二十世紀という時代の悲劇と、それに立ち向かった真の芸術家の偉業に、心から感動。このようなすばらしい映像作家が、自由に映画を撮ることができなかった悲劇に胸が痛む、これは必見の映像。

This is a fine, comprehensive document on the life and times of Leni Reifenstahl
whose brilliant life was stifled by the fact that she made THE POWER OF THE WILL
in 1934. The film showed the seeds of Hitler’s Germany one year after he came to
power. However, Reifenstahl was never a Nazi and anyone who has seen “Olympia”
her coverage of the 1936 Olympiad in Berlin (with Hitler in attendance) would
see quite clearly that she had no Hitler agenda. The film glorifies American
athlete Jesse Owens, the track gold medalist and shows Hitler as an “was also there
at the time.” If we look at THE POWER OF THE WILL with the eyes of someone living
in 1934, however, we can see only the remarkable breakthroughs that this extraordinary
woman accomplished. For those of us who spent our lives in filmmaking (I also
wrote four books on the process including a first place national book festival prizewinner,
Reifenstahl is firmly in the pantheon of great heroes.

This documentary is a must if you want to learn more about Leni Riefenstahl. It captures her in a staunch performance of the role she chose to reinvent herself in after her association with Hitler and the Third Reich came back to bite her.

When I bought this DVD, I had heard of Riefenstahl but knew nothing about her, so I did not have any preconceived notions about her life or her work. As the documentary progressed, I got the sense that she was not being honest, particularly when professing ignorance about the actions of the Third Reich. Also, the way she defined her association with Hitler and other prominent Nazi figures sounded disingenuous. It seemed to me that “the lady protests too much,” and some of her explanations rang suspect, especially when you consider that at the time, she was a highly intelligent and savvy young woman, who was still sharp and alert—and with an enviable memory—even in her 90’s. Clearly, forgetfulness was not the issue here—revisionism definitely was.

I found Riefenstahl to be a complex and intriguing individual and this documentary wetted my appetite for more, so I bough her autobiography—Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir, and three other biographies—Leni: The Life and Work of (Bach), L.R: A life (Trimborn), L.R.: The Seduction of Genius (Rother), her documentaries—Victory of Faith, Triumph of the Will, and Olympia, and four of her movies—The Holy Mountain, Tiefland, The Blue Light, and White Hell of Pitz Palu. This gave me a 365 degree perspective that allowed me to relate what Riefenstahl and her biographers had to say about her acting, dancing and filmmaking skills to the actual material itself.

I’m no expert, but her acting skills did not validate the hype, even less so for her “interpretative” modern dancing, which had novelty value back then. But were she unquestionably excelled in was her filmmaking abilities. She had an unerring eye for symbolism, composition and spectacular visuals—she was both creative and innovative, and can be rightfully credited for inventing and pioneering many techniques still used to this day. Regardless of how she may be perceived today, no one can deny that she was ahead of her time, particularly when you consider she was a woman competing in a male-centric world. We’ll never know what else she would have been capable of achieving if she had made different choices. At any rate, her legacy and reputation will be forever and inextricably intertwined with Hitler and the Third Reich—a sad example of “be careful what you wish for.”