Madoka Ozaki
WL 391 - Paper #1
2/4/98

In the opening of THE WONDERFUL, HORRIBLE LIFE OF LENI RIEFENSTAHL, the director, Ray Muller declaims his objective in the film, to "deconstruct the myth," of "the last surviving witness" to the Nazi regime. However, as the film proceeds, it becomes obvious to the audience that Muller set his goals too high.

What the viewer knew before the film about Riefenstahl was that she was the notorious, but talented filmmaker whom Hitler adored, but survived the Allies interrogation through her consistent refutation, "I was never a party member." Whether or not a four-year imprisonment was a severe enough punishment for her involvement is controversial. To the viewers, the myth is if she is a fascist; if she deserves to be alive.

He should have aimed this film as to document a myth of Leni Riefenstahl, which, without any contention, he achieved to its best extent. The myth can never be revealed since she is the last one left to tell the story. Muller can present no opposing argument which can confront the credibility of Riefenstahl's story. Consequently, the film is the battle between Riefenstahl vs. Muller. The narrative, the interviews, the footage from the past are all trying to jump at any inconsistency that Riefenstahl accidentally yielded. Muller struggles, with his intention bare , to draw unknown facts from this reluctant subject.

First, the narrative shows Muller's distrust towards his subject. In the beginning, the narrative tries to be an objective reporter which provides supplementary historical backgrounds to the viewer. When Riefenstahl talks about her glorious career about her days as an actress, the narratives remains neutral. It does nothing further than explaining the significance of THE MOUNTAIN OF DESTINY as the cultivator of mountaineering film genre, or telling her interaction with the director Fank. However, when the discussion about her involvement with the Nazi arises, the narrator becomes subjective, reflecting Muller's distrust. For example, when Riefenstahl and Muller discuss the book burning, and anti-Semitism, and Riefenstahl refuses knowing about such activities, the narrator says "How could she have overlooked?" even though it can provide no concrete proof that she really knew of those evil acts.

The footage is also used in a way that shows the eagerness of Muller to falsify her statement, Most particular usage is when Riefenstahl tells the viewer that she had no personal contacts with Hitler or Goebbels, In between Riefenstahl's assertion, the close-up of Goebbels is shown repetitiously with the narrative denying Riefenstahl's assertion, There is a strong build-up to the last question of the sequence "Which is to be believed? The diary of Goebbels-or the last surviving witness?" Muller's desperation is revealed here. He is left only with her side of the story.

In the interviews, Muller fails to conceal his disapproval towards Riefenstahl. When the two were discussing whether Riefenstahl seduced the people into Nazism, Muller says "the artist should ask himself what will be done with his creation," as a response to her question "what would you feel your political responsibilities to be?" He is no way neutral towards Riefenstahl.

"This film attempts to approach her without any preconceptions," the narrator boldly declaimed at the beginning of the film. But, how can that be possible when the director is the enemy who challenges Riefenstahl's version of the 'history.' The drive that pushes this movie forward is Muller's preconception itself; the preconception that she is the myth, she is not telling the whole story.

Muller somehow seems to admit his defeat in portraying this subject in depth by adding metatext in the frame when Riefenstahl is talking about safe subjects which she feels at ease to talk about, such as how to construct a shot, or her filming techniques. Those are the only moments he photographed Riefenstahl with her defenses down, in all other parts, Riefenstahl seems defensive, eloquent, and unusually convincing, the way she learned in order to survive almost a century.