Le triomphe de la volonté

Utterly brilliant film that was unfortunately very difficult to find (along with some other great films by propaghandist directors like Sergei Einsten)until a dvd release recently . Just look at the long shots. Absolutely no cameras visible. Truly meticulous work. Astounding score. The opening sequence of Hitler's descent is brilliant artistry, with the director creating the implicit parallel of God's descent from heaven. Excellent film for anyone remotely interested in politics since all these techniques are routinely used in campaign ads. People often neglect to realize the inherent politicality of all art. Art's politics is at its most dangerous when we fail to realize this simple truth - art and politics are inextricably linked. Do you think there's not a reason why the American market will soon be glutted with war films as we prepare for one? gee, i wonder. Riefenstahl is an amazing director, one that should have done more films. When we censor great works for fear of "what they might do to the 'ignorant'", we're a lot closer to the fascists than their detractors.

This film can only be judged or analyzed in any meaningful way only by those who can envision Germany and its people with the hindsight of the decade following its defeat in WWI and the ensuing economic chaos of the 1920s. For those of us who can objectively remove ourselves from our time and revisit the year in which it was filmed, 1934, and then compare it only with all other films made during that early part of the 20th Century can we locate the single word describing it … astonishing.

We are called to objectivity when commenting on a book or film, a piece of art, or product. Only when that is accomplished does a comment have any enduring and meaningful value. Another thing I have found astonishing about this film and its creator is the seemingly unique inability of those commenting on it to be objective. It is seen in the overwhelming number of cases, not from the time in which it was made but with the hindsight of decades of history that had not yet taken place.

No matter what you think of Nazis this film is brilliant. It was the first of the kind political documentary. The beginning may bore some viewers, but those who stay will be rewarded by some of the most famous documentary footage ever shot. I feel I could see this movie a few times without being bored. In fact, the more you watch the more fun it is.

Triumph Des Willens was a blockbuster film in a number of ways. It was meant to be a proper memorializing of an annual NSDAP Parteitag held in Nurenburg. A prior attempt, Sieg Des Glaubens, had proved to be a failure. Adolf Hitler gave director Leni Riefebstahl full rein to use all means to make this film the success which he wanted. First, many innovations in camera techniques, sound synchronization, storyboarding, staging, etc., made movie history. Second, it was an overt appeal to the emotions of both Germans and foreigners that suggested the excitement for and the apparent power of the new Third Reich. Third, the film was part of a multimedia campaign ahead of its time. Its success was confirmed for many years by the almost universal ban most countries placed on its showings. And sixty years later it is still effective in both thrills and chills. Highlights: the first 20 minutes or so resemble a media drama; the solemn military reviews demonstrate components of state power; speeches illustrate the personnel in power at the time. Quite a package!

This is the thinking person's horror film. Zombies? Ghosts? Lunatics with hockey masks and chainsaws generating gallons of fake blood? Not a tiny bit as scary as thousands upon thousands of people lined up in squares, gleefully losing their individual identities and glorifying in the group, willing to perform some of the most evil deeds imaginable for the perceived benefit of that whole.

If this film was done badly, it would be something to laugh at or study as a historical artifact, a relic of a past we left behind. However, its power, and why it can disturb to this very day, is the fact that it was done beautifully. Anyone who talks about equating "truth and beauty" should think about this film. It is certainly beautiful, but it is also in the service of a lie, and an evil one at that.

Sadly, I suspect that the types who make modern political propaganda and advertising get on their knees at night and pray for some of the inspiration that made this film. Stars? This film defies a star rating.