{"id":28285,"date":"2012-11-07T11:58:48","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T18:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28285"},"modified":"2021-02-04T14:31:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T21:31:58","slug":"triumph-of-the-will-1935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28285","title":{"rendered":"Triumph of the Will (1935)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It is our will that this state shall endure for a thousand years. We are happy to know that the future is ours entirely!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Poster-159x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"159\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-28289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Poster-159x300.jpg 159w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Poster-68x128.jpg 68w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Poster-545x1024.jpg 545w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 159px) 100vw, 159px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn Leni Riefenstahl&#8217;s controversial &#8220;documentary&#8221;, Adolf Hitler greets adoring crowds during the 1934 Nazi Party Convention in Nuremberg.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Documentary<\/li>\n<li>Nazis<\/li>\n<li>Propaganda<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary refers to &#8220;Leni Riefenstahl&#8217;s documentary on the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg&#8221; as &#8220;one of the most argued-about films ever made&#8221;, noting that it&#8217;s &#8220;worth seeing if only because of its fame&#8221;. He writes that &#8220;Riefenstahl always contended that her film was art rather than propaganda&#8221;, which is &#8220;nonsense&#8221; given that she and her vast crew of assistant directors &#8220;employed tremendous cinematic artistry to glorify Nazism and the Fuhrer, who comes across as a Messiah&#8221;, a &#8220;hero&#8221;, a &#8220;solemn and caring father figure&#8221;, a &#8220;military leader&#8221;, and a &#8220;respected firm party leader&#8221;. (The resulting film, which took 6 months to edit, represents only 3% of the total footage shot.) He points out that &#8220;most controversial is how on occasion she filmed the people\/soldiers as if they weren&#8217;t human, but statues or part of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Speer\">Albert Speer&#8217;s<\/a> new architecture&#8221;, and notes that &#8220;equally disturbing are images of uniformed Hitler youths having the time of their lives, looking no more dangerous than Cub Scouts as they engage in playful roughhousing&#8221;.  <\/p>\n<p>In his review, Peary provides a useful overview of Riefenstahl&#8217;s many &#8220;expert&#8221; techniques in projecting &#8220;a positive image&#8221; of Hitler &#8212; including her &#8220;employment of symbols&#8221;, &#8220;camera movement (to keep potentially dry material from seeming static), camera placement (Hitler is always shot from below to make him seem heroic), and thematic use of light and darkness&#8221;. All of this is true &#8212; and yet Roger Ebert provides a slightly different perspective in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/great-movie-triumph-of-the-will-1935\">&#8220;Great Movies&#8221; review<\/a>, where he argues that it&#8217;s actually &#8220;a terrible film, paralyzingly dull, simpleminded, overlong and not even &#8216;manipulative&#8217;, because it is too clumsy to manipulate anyone but a true believer.&#8221; However, Ebert&#8217;s perspective on the film seems to come from a modern viewing stance, rather than acknowledging its impact on those who were watching it at the time; while I&#8217;ll concede that I found it boring to sit through the entire two-hour film, I&#8217;m not its target audience &#8212; i.e., a German citizen in the 1930s wondering about the fate of my country. As Peary notes, the &#8220;film made [Aryan] Germans feel comfort about their future&#8221;, and to that end, Riefenstahl most definitely &#8220;succeeded&#8221; in her disturbing goals. <\/p>\n<p>In sum, though it&#8217;s tempting to &#8220;boycott [the film] strictly because of its ideology&#8221;, it&#8217;s worth sitting through once &#8212; though &#8220;ironically, you&#8217;ve probably seen most of the footage already&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plenty of evidence of strategically propagandist (and undeniably &#8220;artistic&#8221;) direction<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Kids-Saluting.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Kids-Saluting.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-28288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Kids-Saluting.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Kids-Saluting-128x100.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Kids-Saluting-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Crowds.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Crowds.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-28291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Crowds.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Crowds-128x100.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Crowds-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Reflection.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Reflection.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-28290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Reflection.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Reflection-128x100.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Triumph-of-the-Will-Reflection-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, simply for its historical notoriety. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0025913\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s232will.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/great-movie-triumph-of-the-will-1935\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/triumph-of-the-spirit\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It is our will that this state shall endure for a thousand years. We are happy to know that the future is ours entirely!&#8221; Synopsis: In Leni Riefenstahl&#8217;s controversial &#8220;documentary&#8221;, Adolf Hitler greets adoring crowds during the 1934 Nazi Party Convention in Nuremberg. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Documentary Nazis Propaganda Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary refers to &#8220;Leni Riefenstahl&#8217;s documentary on the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg&#8221; as &#8220;one of the most argued-about films ever made&#8221;, noting that&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28285\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28285"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68673,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28285\/revisions\/68673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}