Riefenstahl

For the subject of his documentary, director Andres Veiel turns his camera on the complicated figure of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl who rose to prominence during the rise of Germany's Third Reich. Regarded as an innovator in the art of filmmaking, Riefenstahl's friendships with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, along with her work in help create and style Nazi propaganda films, creates a controversial legacy to parse.

Largely acquitted of any crimes tied to Hitler's Nazi regime, at most seen as a sympathizer rather than a political figure or war criminal, Riefenstahl is not ever proved to be the villain that would be easy to paint her as. However, from what we see in the film (including from her own vast treasure trove of information collected during her lifetime) she was hardly the dewy-eyed innocent she would later attempt to portray acting as both a denier and apologist for the actions of Nazi Germany during WWII whenever the subject is broached.

Despite his attempts, Andres Veiel never quite delivers the gotcha moment his film seems to be constantly in search of. He comes close in suggesting Riefenstahl may have used gypsies from concentration camps as extras in her films or may have unintentionally led to disturbing set of events by some stage direction, but, even if true, he can't prove her knowledge of understanding of those events. Despite the mountain of evidence and court cases, there's no smoking gun.

However, what his film does do well is paint an interesting picture of how easily someone well-off in a fascist state, especially one as self-absorbed as Leni Riefenstahl appears to have been during her entire lifetime, could wear blinders and ignore anything that didn't personally affect her. We see several instances of a thin-skinned Riefenstahl taking offense to even the slightest suggestion of what she could or should have known. How easily someone like that could use their skills for the detriment of millions is certainly an interesting point (whether or not she truly understood what she was doing is sadly something the documentary can't ever quite come to terms with).

• Title: Riefenstahl
• IMDb: link