What a strong movie. Tries hard to make you love nazi Germany. A very well done documentary. Especially since it was done by a woman. I don’t mean for that to sound sexist, but woman did not hold a high place in nazi Germany. Except for making babies of course.
It almost works. What are your thoughts on it?
You can see it here…http://www.movieflix.com/movie_info.mfx?movie_id=404.
Registration is free and this movie is free. It’s under documentaries.
Well made. Boring as hell.
Do remember to watch it with the attitude of the times in your head. With modern standards, we can see through the propoganda, but the people of time weren’t allowed to find it boring.
What I noticed about Triumph of the Will was what it didn’t say. No messages of hatred. One speaker mentioned the need for a nation to maintain its “racial purity,” but apart from that oblique statement there was no mention of the Jews. No mention of Communism as a threat. No mention of Germany’s enemies, real or imagined. No mention of a coming war. It was all upbeat, about the wonderful things Nazi rule had accomplished in Germany – new highways, revived industry, humming economy, and everybody working together. It was meant to present the acceptable face of Nazism to Germany and the world.
It’s on the list of videos my AP European History kids have to watch. I put a warning to it, but the kids all come back calling it “interesting but heavy-handed.” Kinda what C K Dexter Haven said. I find it a fascinating insight into what the “public view” of Nazi Germany was.
Almost works? I watched it an a documentary class, and when it was over, half the students were saying things like “Wow! I want to be a Nazi, now!” Basically because of the what BrainGlutton said (they only talked about good stuff, not hatred).
I read recently that the medals ceremony at the end of Star Wars (the first one, Ep. IV: “A New Hope”) was a copy, shot for shot, from a sequence in Triumph…. Is that true?
Beautifully made propaganda; largely responsible for the way propaganda is presented today, even in the present campaign season.
If art existed without context it would be a great work.
Also, I’d like to add a little trumpet blast for movieflix.com. Lots of free films. Lots of chaff, but some important stuff there too. NOt just documentaries: Scarlett Street, THe Stork Club, etc.
Unlike Showgirls which you think is a masterwork.
:rolleyes:
Umm, that’s like the third or fourth time you have ragged me about Showgirls in a completely unrelated thread. Is there a problem here, officer?
Triumph Des Willens is an incredibly well made film, very good propaganda, very important in the history of film. I have also seen so much stock footage of the Nazis that I had trouble keeping my eyes open through the two hours of the film. If you want to see Riefenstahl’s talent in a less soporific and more engaging work, rent Olympia: Fest der Volker, her documentary about the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Far superior in most aspects to ToW.
Showgirls is also well made, and has the advantage of not boring me to tears.
It’s a long time since I saw Triumph, but I don’t recall any scene with a medal-awarding ceremony. You just saw it, Reeder, what do yoy think?
It has also been a while since I saw it, but I thought that that was referring to the scene where we see a small group (including Hitler) walk across the square through several ten thousand men standing in formation and then up the stairs to the podium. That wouldn’t be “shot for shot” but there was a certain similarity.
Echoing the bleating masses is not, in itself, a sign of intelligence, Mock. FYI.
I agree with lissener - boring, boring, boring. We get it! You have approximately eighteen trillion Nazis that can march down the street for three hours but that doesn’t mean we want to see every single one of them!
I went into watching this expecting to be angered. I ended up having a hard time keeping my eyes open. (It’s possible that that was partially due to the fact that I watched it in an 8 am class in college.)
P.S. Showgirls is horrible, so you can’t malign my taste with that one.
More accurately, *Showgirls *is a brilliant satire that many people dislike.
What, exactly, does it satirize?
I popped Triumph of the Will into the DVD player yesterday. I could have sworn I’d seen it before, but I think yesterday was really the first time I’ve seen the whole thing.
Technically it was well made for 1934. The subject matter was rather frightening, though. Okay, I’m a Liberal; and I think people know how I feel about the current reg… administration. This undoubtedly coloured what I was seeing. Now, I’m not saying that the Republicans are like the NSDAP. Certainly the Republicans are not militarising all segments of society. (TotW is full of uniforms, but virtually none of those people were in the military. The NSDAP set up civilian workers along military lines.) However, I did pick up on some “harmonic vibrations” between the nationalism of the NSDAP and the Republican party.
One thing that’s always struck me is the use of the word “homeland”. Hitler & Co. made reference to the German Homeland. “Homeland Security” has always, for me, had a sinister sound.
Much was made in the film of external and internal threats. Interestingly, the references were oblique. Roehm was not mentioned, but Hitler did talk about getting rid of the “bad” elements and made much of reconciling with the SA for example. The message was that Germany had been treated badly, and that through strength and the leadership of the NSDAP the country would rise again. Another chord was struck.
TotW is an orchestrated record (it’s not a documentary) of the 1934 NSDAP “convention” at Nuremberg. This was a grand spectacal full of fervent party supporters listening to a leader who would accept no disagreement. The same could be said of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. But I saw a closer parallel with the Republican “town meetings” where people who disagree with the Party are not allowed to attend.
Again, I’m not saying Bush is Hitler. But given my political leanings and the propaganda put out by the Administration in regards to the war in Iraq and the rancourous battle for the White House, the film was unsettling.
In the song “Be Prepared” in “The Lion King”, the part where the hyenas are marching past Scar while he’s sitting on top of the rock is taken from “Triumph…”.
Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner…it’s #18!! To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long…thought it would be the OP myself.