The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1994)

Director Ray Muller's three-hour portrait of controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl grapples with the central controversy of her career: was she a "pure" filmmaker whose political naiveté allowed her stunning visions to be harnessed by Hitler, or was she the key mythmaker of the Nazi propaganda machine? The dancer turned actress turned director is well represented with generous clips from her work both in front of and behind the camera, from the ethereally beautiful The Blue Light through the romantic fantasy Teifland, with special focus on her two most famous works: the stunning propaganda piece The Triumph of the Will (a chillingly brilliant work of demagoguery which she helped design and stage as well as film) and the poetic, technically breathtaking documentary Olympia. After her exile from filmmaking, she became an acclaimed ethnographic photographer and more recently a scuba diver and underwater photographer. Though she was over 90 at the time of the interviews, Riefenstahl's energy and commanding presence dominate the film and overpower Muller. At one point she practically grabs the directorial reins from him. The film never really resolves her complicity as a Nazi propagandist; she maintains her innocence while Muller questions her assertions with contrary evidence, but he appears too awed to really push the issue. Whatever your feelings, it's hard not to come away from this film just a little awed by the talented and tenacious Ms. Riefenstahl yourself. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

What a life! Very, very interesting that people can live such lives.

After getting about a third of the way through this documentary I was convinced that I've seen this before on public television. Anyhow, the film is just that, a documentary on the extraordinary life of Leni Riefenstahl. I thought the film was tremendous and really left me thinking: what an amazing life some people end up living! The documentary chronicles Riefenstahl's life from unknown dancer, to highly successful German actress, to photographer and filmmaker, to a Nazi 'vendor' or 'collaborator' for the truly cynical, to retiree and underwater photographer. Truly amazing. During the Olympic Games this past summer in Beijing I noticed that the local electronics and media store was pushing Riefenstahl's 'Olympia' film and that spurred me into looking for a Riefenstahl documentary. Very fascinating and I highly recommend it. October 30, 2008

Documentary, biography and even a how to

This film pretty much follows the book "Leni Riefenstahl-Five Lives: A Biography in Pictures" 336 pages Taschen (November 2000). I keep my copy sideways on the library shelf so as people enter they see Leni looking at them.

We follow Leni form her earliest mark on the world through many lives. I am in the process of collecting all her published films. This program makes a perfect supplement and also as a lens to help understands what we are viewing.

The film is quit long and you start to wonder if they were being quite selective of her works to wrap the documentary up properly.
Covered are:
The Sacred Mountain (1926)
The Big Leap (1927)
The White Hell of Pitz Palü (1929)
The Blue Light (1929) first film we think of when we think Leni
S.O.S. Iceberg (1933)
Sieg Des Gkaubens (1933)
Triumph of the Will (1935)

You say hay did the forget Olympia? Then you realize that you only watched part 1. There are lots more to come:
Olympia (1938) as good of coverage as the film it's self
Tiefland (1954)

Then we get in to her later life in Nuba and under water.

The first have does have the extra treat of touring UFA this alone is worth the price.
The down side is that other than the narrator it is mostly in German; if it were not for sub titles I would be in trouble as I only picked up about a third of the conversation after two years of German.

Watching the film the second time you realize that it is also a how to make art films.

Leni Riefenstahl-Five Lives: A Biography in Pictures October 5, 2008

Lousy documentary about a fascinating artist

After viewing, you'll agree that Leni was beautiful, physically strong, with enormous artistic talent. In this sense, she was clearly unique in the world. However, she was also VERY conveniently "naive" to the horrors of fascism, just like nearly everyone else in Germany - and around the world, for that matter. The film itself is the work of hacks. Two hours of fascinating information seemingly put together by junior high students, followed by another full hour of meandering dreck. This documentary is yet another example of how the most inept filmmaker can find success if the story is interesting enough. January 4, 2008

Portrait of the last Nazi

While this is indeed an excellent film, it's also at best a rather shallow one. True, Reifenstahl does come across as creepy, at best, and her excuses ring hollow to anyone who's read the facts of her well documented life. But the filmmakers pretty much gave her a free ride here, never challenging or pressing her on her lies and denials, and presenting a very sanitized view of her life.

What really distrubs me is the number of reviewers who are willing to suspend judgment of the moral dimension of her acts, and even praise her- one even calls her a strong model for women. I suppose that's true, in the same sense that Stalin was a strong model for men. But it's also disturbing. It reminds us all how easy it is for a charismatic leader to find weak minded followers who will willing blind themselves to evil, and even encourage it to flourish. March 20, 2007

fascinating and chilling

I had no knowledge of Leni Riefenstahl, her social/political significance in society or why she was so controversial until this aired on PBS, in 1994. Riefenstahl, best known for directing two infamous documentaries, THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL and OLYMPIAD, that sympathetically depicted the Nazi party. Riefenstahl, born in Berlin, began as an interpretive dancer, a movie star, a mountain climber and then a filmmaker.

What was my perception of Len Riefenstahl? I think that she was an incredibly charismatic individual (even at the age of 90, when the film was made). I felt a little sick when they were discussing the Nazis, and her part in (her words) unknowingly glorifying the party's beliefs. I am not sure if I was convinced of that at all. However, this is a very important film that takes a look at the body of work of a very prolific, independent and fiesty woman who stood on her own two feet, up until the very end of her life. January 15, 2007

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