Leni Riefenstahl was an exceptionally gifted actress and even more gifted director. Her extraordinary mastery of cinematography and instincts for angle shots, shadows, and frame composition have never been matched in German cinematic history. Even the great Fassbinder, Wertmueller, and Herzog have seldom filmed scenes as breathtaking as Riefenstahl. Her documentaries were the best ever made; not just one, but two masterpieces. How unfortunate she was politically identified with the Nazi Party, although not a Nazi. She was not completely innocent or guilty of Nazi propaganda aims, but was somewhere in the middle; a person stuck in a time and place that utilized her substantial skills. The Blue Light illustrates some of those skills, with absolutely no allusions to Nazi propaganda. If there were any parallels to be drawn to Nazi Germany in this film, she would have represented the outcasts and persecuted, not the oppressors. Let us try to be fair when we judge the actions and career of Leni Riefenstahl.
Review of The Blue Light
