"Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl" or "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl" is a co-production by several European countries that resulted in a German-language documentary back in 1993, so this one will soon have its 25th anniversary. At that point, German actress and filmmaker was around the age of 90 and still live on for over 10 years afterward. At one point in the film, she calls death a salvation for her, but she still needed to wait for quite a while. The writer and director is Ray Müller and this is his most known work, not only because of the subject, but also because of the awards attention it received. This documentary runs for a massive three hours and there are basically two things in here: old footage and new recordings. The former, of course, is taken from Riefenstahl's films in front of and behind the camera and we also see some scenes with the high-profile Nazi politicians. The new footage are all interviews with Riefenstahl about her work and especially about the political context she lived in being Hitler's favorite filmmaker.
It was very easy to see how much she was still suffering from her past and that the lasts half hour is what she enjoyed the most, when Müller reports on her more recent work in Africa and under the sea as there is no dark connection attached to these movies. About her work from the first half of the 20th century, there obviously is and Riefenstahl keeps justifying and explaining it with the crucial difference between art and politics and how she cannot be blamed for the intentions Hitler and Goebbels had for their films. She was just a tool used by them (and it was impossible to refuse pretty much) and she tried to deliver still as a creative filmmaker. The truth is certainly in-between there somewhere, even if I must say that after watching this film it is difficult to really blame Riefenstahl for anything and lets be honest here: Isn't it already punishment how her name will be linked for ever to the Nazi regime and their horrible crimes and at least, she did not make any of these concentration camp film or the truly antisemitic ones like other German filmmaker. There were moments during these three hours where I felt that she was probably not entirely honest. For example, I don't believe Goebbels was lying in his diary about Riefenstahl being a frequent guest at the homes of Goebbels and Hitler, which is one of the most tense moments of the film when we see Riefenstahl truly in anger. Then again, she is right that Goebbels was a perfect liar, so who knows.
All in all I enjoyed the watch. I don't think it is a film that will really get you interested in the subject of filmmaking, Nazi Germany and the controversial character Leni Riefenstahl. You already need to have an interest before to really appreciate this one. The one thing I was missing a bit was a more personal take on Riefenstahl's private and family life, which was missing entirely. But maybe Riefenstahl did not want it to be a part of this documentary and you cannot really blame her or Müller or anybody else for not elaborating on this area at all. It's also not necessary to turn this one into a success. Thumbs up from me. Go see it.
It was very easy to see how much she was still suffering from her past and that the lasts half hour is what she enjoyed the most, when Müller reports on her more recent work in Africa and under the sea as there is no dark connection attached to these movies. About her work from the first half of the 20th century, there obviously is and Riefenstahl keeps justifying and explaining it with the crucial difference between art and politics and how she cannot be blamed for the intentions Hitler and Goebbels had for their films. She was just a tool used by them (and it was impossible to refuse pretty much) and she tried to deliver still as a creative filmmaker. The truth is certainly in-between there somewhere, even if I must say that after watching this film it is difficult to really blame Riefenstahl for anything and lets be honest here: Isn't it already punishment how her name will be linked for ever to the Nazi regime and their horrible crimes and at least, she did not make any of these concentration camp film or the truly antisemitic ones like other German filmmaker. There were moments during these three hours where I felt that she was probably not entirely honest. For example, I don't believe Goebbels was lying in his diary about Riefenstahl being a frequent guest at the homes of Goebbels and Hitler, which is one of the most tense moments of the film when we see Riefenstahl truly in anger. Then again, she is right that Goebbels was a perfect liar, so who knows.
All in all I enjoyed the watch. I don't think it is a film that will really get you interested in the subject of filmmaking, Nazi Germany and the controversial character Leni Riefenstahl. You already need to have an interest before to really appreciate this one. The one thing I was missing a bit was a more personal take on Riefenstahl's private and family life, which was missing entirely. But maybe Riefenstahl did not want it to be a part of this documentary and you cannot really blame her or Müller or anybody else for not elaborating on this area at all. It's also not necessary to turn this one into a success. Thumbs up from me. Go see it.