Riefenstahl

"Understated, allowing the oft-vilified filmmaker a strong voice (via masterfully curated archival people) that echoes denial, defence and defiance. It is ultimately entirely clear which side of the discussion Veiel favours, but his argument is never not balanced and meticulous..." Read the full review here: http://www.screen-space.net/reviews/2025/5/7/riefenstahl.html

“To thine own self be true” – it’s an admonition and affirmation generally held in high regard, but it’s also one that can be difficult to live up to. In many instances, that’s attributable to not really knowing oneself in the first place. And, as this telling documentary from writer-director Andres Veiel reveals, that was very much the case where German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was concerned. At the risk of profound understatement, this colorful, controversial yet innovatively brilliant German-born actor-producer-director lived what could best be termed “a complicated life.”…

Barring her being given a decent dose of Scopalamine, it was highly unlikely that Leni Riefenstahl was ever going to acknowledge in any interviews the extent of any complicity she may have had in the Holocaust - either actively or passively, but this documentary uses an astonishing collection of archive, much of it her own, to try to piece together something of the life of this visionary and enigmatic filmmaker. Using images from her own on-screen roles there is something of the Garbo to her beauty and it’s not hard to see why she captured the eyes and reputedly the ardours of people like…