The Wonderful, Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) ***

Fascinating documentary about the controversial German filmmaker. A close friend of Adolf Hitler, she directed "Triumph Of The Will" (1935), a brilliant documentary that glorified the Nazis. In this film, she defends her life's work, claiming that art and politics should be judged separately. The second adjective of its title nothwithstanding, this film makes a very convincing case for her rehabilitation. It certainly presents her as an apolitical (though occasionally naive) artist fascinated by African culture and marine ecology (unusual interests for an alleged Nazi sympatizer).