Riefenstahl Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.5

Riefenstahl Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 3, 2026

The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl* offered what seemed at the time of that documentary's release in 1993 to be a really unvarnished look at its titular icon, in a piece that found Riefenstahl late in life prevaricating and offering various defenses for her life choices, choices which of course given the retrospective allure of hindsight, may have objectively been on the questionable side at the very least. This newer documentary may offer a subliminal "hold my beer" or "you ain't seen nothin' yet" in terms of even further deconstructing the image Riefenstahl attempted to foment after the calamitous end of World War II and (supposed) death of Nazism. Among the "tidbits" scattered throughout this arresting documentary are outtakes from the earlier 1993 piece, including a kind of eye opening segment where Riefenstahl more or less loses her [you know what] for no real apparent reason and starts berating both documentarian Ray Müller and somewhat tangentially if maybe a little hilariously her longtime partner Horst Kettner (famously 40 years younger than Riefenstahl).

*Note: The link points to a Region B release. As of the writing of this review, it doesn't appear this excellent documentary is available on Blu-ray in Region A.

Riefenstahl's fiery temperament is fully on display throughout various archival videos included. One of the most amazing is a German talk show where Riefenstahl is "paired" with another German woman her general age who did not comport with Nazism but who initially (for a moment at least) seems to curry favor with Riefenstahl when this "Everywoman" mentions having seen The Blue Light (evidently due soon on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber as this review is being written), but who then invites Riefenstahl's umbrage by mentioning how the "later films" (presumably Triumph of the Will and Olympia*) were basically unacceptable propaganda. The cutaways to Riefenstahl during this interchange are revelatory and she she once again loses her [you know what] on live television you get the sense you're seeing the real "unvarnished" woman, even more so than any passing moments in the 1993 documentary.

Writer and director Andrew Veiel frankly benefits immensely from the post mortem aspect of this piece, as access to never before seen troves of archival information from Riefenstahl's own estate finally, well, put the lie to many of her most insistent claims through the years. However, despite that probably definite "minus" in any overall assessment of Riefenstahl, this documentary also makes clear how absolutely groundbreaking she was as a filmmaker. In that regard it may be instructive in a way to contrast her particular "plus" as a cinematic innovator with, say, contributions by Woody Allen, whose own personal peccadilloes probably inevitably play into assessment of his life and career. I'd personally argue Riefenstahl is the more cutting edge auteur (for better or worse, as the case may be), but her personal failings may dwarf even Allen's, at least for some. One way or the other, anyone who saw and was fascinated by the earlier 1993 documentary covering Riefenstahl should find this 2024 piece absolutely riveting. "Newcomers" will of course most likely be similarly amazed and may want to seek out the 1993 piece for additional viewing.

*Note 2: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Criterion's immense 100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912-2012 set.

Riefenstahl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Riefenstahl is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (often) in 1.78:1 (archival video hovers around Academy ratio). This has the expected heterogeneous appearance that frequently attends documentaries cobbled together from various sources, but all of the contemporary footage, which includes some interesting interstitials in black and white with various film strips (see screenshots 3 and 9) offer great contrast and generally good detail, even if individual frames are basically thumbnailed sized. Archival material of course can vary in quality but on the whole looks at least decent and often quite good. It does seem like some of the archival video had an interlaced component at some point in the workflow. Some archival video has also been blown up to fill the entire 1.78:1 frame (see screenshot 1).

Riefenstahl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Riefenstahl features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The surround track is probably not strictly necessary, given both the "talking head" segments and archival video with original mono audio. As with the video side of things, some archival audio can show signs of age, but accompanying forced subtitles for both some German language and even somewhat muddy English language moments help to clarify things. One way or the other, even without subtitles I personally had no real problem understanding the English language sections. There are optional English subtitles available for the rest of the presentation.

Riefenstahl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:00)

Riefenstahl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It may be understandable if some actually feel a bit of sympathy for Riefenstahl in terms of her not being around anymore to offer any defenses of herself, but even if she's obviously not personally culpable for some of Nazism's most horrifying atrocities, this absolutely arresting documentary makes it perfectly clear that Riefenstahl herself knew both that she was helping to create an Aryan mythology in support of Nazism with her films, and (perhaps more saliently) about at least some of those aforementioned Nazi atrocities. It's that latter bit that may be the ultimate undoing of any real attempt to rehabilitate Riefenstahl's overall image, but this documentary is also to be commended for how level headed it is in presenting Riefenstahl's contributions to the art of cinema. Highly recommended.