Leni Riefenstahl, la lumière et les ombres

Enlightening documentary by Andres VEIEL, which once again deals with the notorious director Leni RIEFENSTAHL (1902 - 2003), who enjoyed great success during the Nazi era.

The German director Andres VEIEL has already presented remarkable documentaries with BLACK BOX BRD (2002) and BEUYS (2016). At the suggestion of the television presenter Sandra MAISCHBERGER, who interviewed Leni RIEFENSTAHL on her 100th birthday, he has now once again dealt with the life of the controversial director. He has succeeded in making a haunting film, which, however, draws heavily on LENI RIEFENSTAHL: DIE MACHT DER BILDER by Ray MÜLLER. The German director Ray MÜLLER had already released his interview film with RIEFENSTAHL in 1993 and even won the INTERNATIONAL EMMY AWARD for it. In conversation with Ray MÜLLER, RIEFENSTAHL revealed herself to be a hot-tempered artist of repression who used all the stops, from crying and flirting to malicious aggression, to deny her responsibility. In Germany, the film was shown in 1993 on the then very ambitious private news channel VOX. VEIEL has little to add to MÜLLER's findings. However, he now has images from RIEFENSTAHL's estate that further deepen the findings already gained in 1993. Her involvement in the murder of Jewish extras in Poland shortly after the start of the Second World War becomes very clear. In contrast, the images from RIEFENSTAHL's photo expeditions to the Nuba warrior tribe in Sudan are unintentionally comical. The director poses with children from the tribe next to Persil cartons (detergent) and Kaba cans (cocoa powder) to advertise her generous sponsors. This woman always knew exactly what she was doing or not doing. Nothing in her entire life was left to chance.

VEIEL's film is merited by the fact that it provides the psychological profile of a repressive follower of the criminal acts of the Third Reich in RIEFENSTAHL. This woman managed by all means to keep telling her own lies until she had internalized them as truths. Such people are highly modern again, and that is why a film like RIEFENSTAHL is needed!

DIE MACHT DER BILDER (1993) by Ray MÜLLER should by no means be forgotten. The real pioneering work was done by MÜLLER and not MAISCHBERGER / VEIEL.