Riefenstahl (4 Stars)

Today the cinema was full of people waiting to watch "Gladiator 2", but I preferred to see the new documentary about "Leni Riefenstahl". who lived from 22nd August 1902 to 8th September 2003. That was a long life, but her film career was short. Her final film was released in 1954, although its filming was completed in 1944. The confusion after the end of World War Two delayed the film's completion and release.

Leni began her career as an actress in 1925, but she turned to directing ain 1932. She's generally considered to be one of the greatest directors of the early 20th Century, despite the controversial nature of her films. She's best known for her documentary film "Triumph of the Will" (about the 1934 Nazi Party Congress) and her two-part documentary about the 1936 Olympic Games. All three films are considered to be Nazi propaganda films. When asked whether she wanted to create political propaganda she insisted that she was only interested in art. Adolf Hitler commissioned her to make the films, and her intention was to make the films as beautiful as possible.

To be fair to Leni, in the Olympic Games films she gave extensive coverage of Jesse Owens, the black American who won four gold medals.

When she was arrested to be denazified after the Second World War, it was decided that she was innocent. The examiners judged that she was an innocent person who was never a Nazi, neither in her ideology nor by being a party member. In later years this was repeatedly put in doubt. Evidence piled up that contradicted her claims that she knew nothing about the persecution of Jews. This is the main subject of the second half of the documentary. When interviewed, she always became angry when she was accused of knowing everything. For instance, while filming in Poland she looked on while soldiers shot 20 Jews to get them out of the background of a street scene. She denies this.

Talent and morals. Can you separate the two? She was an exceptional filmmaker, despite her close friendship with both Hitler and Goebbels. I watched "Triumph of the Will" on videotape many years ago. I've only seen short excerpts of the Olympic Games documentaries. I've never seen the films in which she appeared as an actress. I'd like to watch them all. Where can I find them? Very few films are available on disc, and only for high prices. Two of the films in which she acted can be bought for streaming on Amazon. "Triumph of the Will" can't be bought anywhere. It's too sensitive to be sold in Germany. The censors are stupid. I'm not a Nazi, far from it, but I want to judge the film as a work of art.