Forget Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. The monster movie of the year is a historical documentary. Like Mary Shelley’s gothic classic, Andres Veiel’s Riefenstahl is a cautionary tale about the moral responsibility of creators, a parable about what happens when ambition is uncoupled from ethics. It is also a film about beauty and ugliness, and how those who assign moral value to the former over the latter will come to be haunted by their choice.
With films such as Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Helene “Leni” Riefenstahl shaped the cinematic language of Hollywood, advertising and sports broadcasting, pioneering the swooping crowd shot and the sculpture-like stylisation of athletic bodies. That she had a fascination with Hitler, and that Hitler was fascinated by her, is well known – she herself never disputed it.
