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A brilliant artist driven by fascist ideals and selfish ambition, Leni Riefenstahl was a complex woman composed of contradictions. She was a determined woman, though not a feminist; part of Hitler’s inner circle, though politically unaware; a Nazi propagandist but not a war criminal. It has been argued that Leni Riefenstahl has feigned ignorance over the years in order to defend her propagation of the Nazi party, most notably in her film, ''Triumph of the Will''. Riefenstahl's own words in Ray Muller's 1993 documentary, ''The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl'', contradict that argument.<ref>Ray Muller, ''The Wondeful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl''DVD (1993,New York: Kino on Video, 1998)</ref> Riefenstahl never had to feign ignorance, rather she ''chose'' ignorance as a means by which to attain her goals of artistry and adulation, and to positively promote Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party.

== Life Before ''Triumph'' ==

Muller's full-length documentary consists of a compilation of in-depth interviews with Leni Riefenstahl where the subject projects herself as a victim of the Third Reich. It must be remembered that Riefenstahl spent most of her life engaged in creating films and was herself an accomplished actress who spent a long career portraying various characters, especially outcasts and heroines. She began her career on the stage and stated in the documentary that becoming a star was “intoxicating.” It can be inferred from her words that she achieved a euphoric feeling upon receiving widespread adulation from the general public. How then must she have felt when she discovered that Adolph Hitler also admired her artistic talents and physical strength?