Triumph of the Will (1935)

Triumph of the Will (“Triumph des Willens”)
Directed by Leni Riefenstahl
1935/Germany
Leni Riefenstahl-Produktion/Reichspropagandaleitung der NSDAP
Repeat viewing
#82 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Rudolf Hess: [addressing Hitler] You were our guarantor of victory. You are our guarantor of peace. Heil Hitler! Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil![/box]

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ-z4UzOIw4

Clips to a background of “Sonne” by Rammstein