German artist Anselm Kiefer has always worked on a large, provocative canvas. He first made a splash in the late sixties, integrating Nazi propaganda into his work to force his native Germany (and the rest of us) to continue processing the unthinkable, rather than sweeping it under the rug. Now, hale and hearty in his seventies, Kiefer continues working in his enormous atelier in France, which he contentedly navigates by bike! Wenders’ biographical portrait combines present-day interviews, archival footage, and selective re-enactments.

If you don’t know the story (or work) of Anselm Kiefer, this illuminating film provides an ideal introduction. This fearless artist always courted controversy, using his work to pose difficult questions and shine a light in the deep, dark places of the human soul. A work of art in itself, Wenders shot his film in 3D; appropriately it’s a visual feast, show more than tell, even in 2D. In tasteful re-enactments, Kiefer’s son plays him as a young man; in the role of Anselm the boy, the director cast his own grand-nephew. It all works. For a sublime, penetrating portrait of the artist, watch “Anselm.”