18/47

Can vile propaganda also be great art?

Chronology

Explores the artistic legacy of Leni Riefenstahl and her complex relationship with the Nazi regime, juxtaposing her self-portrait with evidence suggesting her awareness of the regime’s atrocities. This question will forever loom large when discussing the work of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. She is admired as one of the greatest German filmmakers in history (by Quentin Tarantino, for example), but is also despised for her portrayal of the Third Reich as glamorous. Riefenstahl herself has always denied that she was a Nazi herself.

After her death in 2003, this image was quickly shattered

In her opinion, she was an artist who happened to work for Hitler. In interviews, she has always insisted that she was unaware of the regime’s atrocities. The striking contrast between her own statements and historical facts was already the subject of the recent television documentary “Riefenstahl – The End of the Myth” and is explored in more depth in the documentary film “Riefenstahl”. Director Andres Veiel meticulously searched through her entire estate, searching for letters, newspaper clippings and official documents, in order to confront Riefenstahl’s words with reality.

This research shows even more clearly how manipulative Riefenstahl was

But at the same time it is very fascinating to observe how her enormous ego and fearless ambition helped shape her place in cinematic history. In a Q&A session at the Ghent Film Festival, Veiel said that he initially wanted to create an avatar of Riefenstahl in his film, an alternative Leni, created from personal letters and diary fragments in her estate. But in the end the material itself was so clear that it could speak for itself. There is no doubt that Riefenstahl felt deep sympathy and admiration for the Nazi movement.

The film contains a treasure trove of historical material

Veiel convincingly shows that her own worldview was completely in line with Nazi ideology. Very telling are the recordings of television interviews, recorded while the cameras were rolling and the interview was interrupted. Riefenstahl repeatedly becomes angry when asked about her responsibility as an artist and her involvement in the Nazi movement. But even more telling are the recorded telephone conversations that Riefenstahl had with her many admirers.

Andres Veiel himself sees his film as a lesson for today

Whenever her artistic integrity was questioned, she received letters of support and sympathetic phone calls. Many Germans agreed that in the 1930s it was very difficult to oppose the Nazi movement, and that Hitler’s passive supporters were judged too harshly. Riefenstahl’s ability to craft her own image and shape the past to her advantage is similar to the plethora of fake news created by populists like Donald Trump.