This new documentary on the filmmaker is the work of German director Andreas Veiel. He was given access to Riefenstahl’s huge but disorganised archive of personal materials. The film is painstakingly constructed from these, alongside footage from Riefenstahl’s films and various broadcast interviews she gave over the years. The result is less a chronological narrative of her life and more a portrait of her psychology as a person. In intricate detail, the film exposes her overwhelming ego, lack of introspection and uncompromising refusal to accept any responsibility for her role in advancing Nazi ideology. According to her own account, she was simply an artist hired to make films. Her overriding concern, in her view, was the pursuit of an idealised vision of beauty. If her work was ultimately used in the service of a regime that perpetrated some of the worst crimes in human history, well, she can’t be blamed.
Riefenstahl is not without its flaws – an intrusive voiceover distracts from the content at times, and the audience’s prior knowledge of the historical context is assumed. But these are minor criticisms compared to the film’s success in laying bare the lie at the heart of Riefenstahl’s defence, the festering wound hidden beneath the dressings. Riefenstahl’s private conversations demonstrate beyond any doubt her ongoing flirtation with fascist ideology, long after the war had ended. In one telephone call, she appears to question the existence of the gas chambers. During an interview, she watches footage of violent race riots and claims never to have witnessed such things during the Nazi regime.
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