''The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl'' (german: Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl) is a 1993 German

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the life of German film director

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

, directed by Ray Müller.

Production

Riefenstahl was best known for her documentary film ''

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

'' (1938), on the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and her

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

s, ''

Der Sieg des Glaubens ''Der Sieg des Glaubens'' ( en, The Victory of Faith, Victory of Faith, or Victory of the Faith, italic=yes) is the first Nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Her film recounts the Fifth Party Rally of the Nazi Party, which occur ...

'' (1933), ''

Triumph of the Will ''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his na ...

'' (1935), and ''

Tag der Freiheit ''Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht'' (''Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces'') is the third documentary directed by Leni Riefenstahl, following '' Victory of Faith'' and ''Triumph of the Will''. Her third film recounts the Seventh Party Rally of ...

'' (1935), which are regarded by historians as among the greatest propaganda films of all time. The United States release of this film, in 1993, coincided with the publication of Riefenstahl's autobiography '' Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir'' (New York, 1993), as well as with her ninetieth birthday. The two releases are not unrelated. ''The Wonderful, Horrible life of Leni Riefenstahl'' was born from an idea of Riefenstahl herself, who, motivated by her old age and already working on her memoirs, decided to commission a documentary about her life. Concerned about being associated with the 'Nazi director', eighteen filmmakers declined the project, before Müller agreed to portray Riefenstahl in what ended up being a three-hour-long documentary (three times its contract length). The length of the film is therefore the result of a decision by the director: Müller justifies it as an attempt to give a fair representation of Riefenstahl's life, which cannot be reduced to the eight years she worked for the Nazi regime, but presents much more interesting stories and facts that are relevant to understand her personality. Showing more historical material about her life, according to Müller, also helps to compensate the strong image of herself that Riefenstahl tries to impose throughout the movie, giving the viewer a better chance to draw their own conclusions. ''The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl'' encapsulates a historical figure at the end of her life. Through this film, it is shown how Riefenstahl dealt with the repercussions of her early work.

Reception

The film garnered a strong critical response. It currently has a 95% rating amongst critics cited on the

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film review website.

"This movie is fascinating in so many different ways: As the story of an extraordinary life, as the reconstruction of the career of one of the greatest of film artists, as the record of an ideological debate, as a portrait of an amazing old woman."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
, ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
''

"Consistently fascinating documentary... This very significant film is the fablelike story of a woman whose search for the ideal, not unlike Ms. Riefenstahl's search in a very different world, leads to disaster."
Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
, ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''

"A fascinating if irritating and ultimately unsatisfactory 1993 German documentary ..It’s important to know that this film was made at Riefenstahl’s own instigation, clearly designed to accompany her then recently published autobiography, and that she had veto power over who would be interviewed (don’t expect to see Susan Sontag here). Consequently this is more often self-portrait than portrait .. fartistic integrity has nothing to do with humanity, this is the movie you’ve been waiting for. Incidentally, the film’s stupid title was coined strictly for the Anglo-American market; the original German title translates as “Leni Riefenstahl: The Power of Images.”"
Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
, ''
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' The Wonderful Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl (review)
''Chicago Reader'' (July 1, 1994)

Release and awards

Belgian, British, and German production companies financed the film and it was distributed by American, Japanese, Canadian, and French companies. It premiered at the

Toronto Festival of Festivals The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in September 1993, followed shortly thereafter at several American film festivals. When broadcast in the United States, the film received a primetime slot of 8:00pm on stations like

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. When televised in Germany and Austria, the film met opposition and wasn't aired until 11:00pm. It won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

at the International Emmy Awards in 1993, for Arts Documentary. Ray Müller won the Golden Space Needle Award for best documentary at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

in 1994. The film is consistently found on “best documentary” lists. In Germany, the Emmy win was rarely mentioned.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Starkman, Ruth. "Mother of All Spectacles: Ray Muller's 'The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl'", ''Film Quarterly'', Vol. 51, No. 2 (Winter, 1997–1998), pp. 21–31.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, The Documentary films about film directors and producers German documentary films 1993 films 1993 documentary films Cultural depictions of Leni Riefenstahl 1990s German films