> I've been fascinated by Riefenstahl both as a person and a filmmaker for > more than 20 years. I'm sure that she had the final word on the documentary > THE WONDERFUL HORRIBLE LIFE OF LENI RIEFENSTAHL, so that whatever images > that show her in a "negative" light (her attempts to control the filmmaker, > e.g.) were rather subtle. > > Bob Kosovsky Perhaps Riefenstahl *did* have final approval regarding the documentary's portrayal of her (rather than continuing to speculate about this point, does anyone know for sure?), but even if she did, that matters very little to me. It would merely indicate that she failed to recognize the subtlety and sophistication of the film and its slow, steady, cumulative construction of a very strong indictment of the choices she made. As a matter of fact, it would be completely consistent with Riefenstahl's failure, illustrated by the documentary itself, to recognize the inevitable imbrication of aesthetics and politics -- in general and in her work specifically. That the film did not club its viewers over the head with its indictment and that it did not reduce the complexity of Leni Riefenstahl, her work, or the historical debate around both, are, I think, a measure of its achievement. Alison McKee Department of Film and Television UCLA [log in to unmask]