Directed by Leni Riefenstahl
1935/Germany
Leni Riefenstahl-Produktion/Reichspropagandaleitung der NSDAP
Repeat viewing
#82 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Rudolf Hess: [addressing Hitler] You were our guarantor of victory. You are our guarantor of peace. Heil Hitler! Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!
This is a propaganda film documenting the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremburg, Germany. It features many mass demonstrations and parades as well as speeches by Hitler and other Nazi party leaders.
It is of course impossible to view this film outside the context of history. I kept thinking throughout of the fates that would befall the people pictured and their victims. From this distance, a lot of the Nazi rituals would have looked comic if they had not been carried out with such deadly seriousness. Obviously, I could not possibly feel the emotions the film makers intended to evoke in the audience. Only someone viewing around the time of its production could judge whether the film did achieve its intentions. Hitler was reportedly pleased and the movie played in cinemas almost until the end of the “1000-year” Reich, ten years later.
No one, I think, could deny that the film is very artfully photographed and edited. True, Riefenstahl had an unlimited budget and lot of help from whoever choreographed the ceremonies and the settings provided by Albert Speer. Nevertheless, many of the shots could only have been achieved by a master. They are especially impressive considering the state of technology at the time.
Clips to a background of “Sonne” by Rammstein
As you know, Bea, I think this film is a masterpiece of the art of film making even though it is horrific in what it represents. I don’t think we can possibly understand the people’s adoration and worship of Hitler……it was like nothing that had ever happened before and hasn’t happened since. But the pageantry of the rally and the use of symbols fed that frenzy of enthusiasm and Riefenstahl captured it perfectly. Granted, she did not choreograph the rally but her camera placement and her suggestions to the rally directors made this film a must-see for those who are interested in what propaganda is all about. Olympiad should also be viewed although I have only seen snippets of it…..very powerful but you surely don’t see much of the African-American multi-gold medal winner Jesse Owens!!!!
The fact that she was the sole editor of the film establishes her as a master.
We all agree about Leni! A master of camera and editing.
The Nazi’ies loved this sort of self-promovation. I am not surprised they kept running it in the cinemas till the end to remind people what a wonderful world they were building while everything was going haywire.
I too looked at all those children and felt sorry for them. To be caught up in such a horrible project.
And so many of those children would be dead, or kill other children, in just a few years because of the egos of their leaders.