Triumph of the Will

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Triumph of the Will
Image:Triumph poster.jpg
Directed by	Leni Riefenstahl
Written by	Leni Riefenstahl, Walter Ruttmann
Starring	Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Other Nazi Leaders
Produced by	Leni Riefenstahl
Distributed by	Reichsparteitagsfilm
Release date	March 28, 1935
Runtime	120 min.
Language	German
Budget	Unknown
IMDb page

Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens in German) is a propaganda film with elements of a documentary by the German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, chronicling the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. It is one of the best-known propaganda films in the history of the cinema, with wide and enduring recognition of the technical skills of Riefenstahl despite the controversial subject. The film is also recognized as one of the most powerful films in history, with revolutionary approaches in both music and cinematography.

For creating such an effective and energetic picture, Riefenstahl was rewarded with the German Film Prize (Deutscher Filmpreis), and the gold medal at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. After the war, the presentation of the feature was prohibited in Germany, due to its glorifying view of the Nazi regime.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Origins 3 Filmmaking 4 Themes 5 Controversy 6 Trivia 7 Influences and Popular Culture 8 See also 9 External Links 10 References

Plot summary

The film has been accurately described as "by Nazis, for Nazis, and about Nazis". [1] It shows much footage of uniformed Nazi party members as well as common soldiers marching to melodious major-keyed classical music, then later singing, playing, and cooking; it also includes soundbites from speeches given by various advisors to Adolf Hitler, and portions of a speech by Hitler himself. The film tries to show how the German people pledged their loyalty to the person of Hitler, but becomes somewhat disorienting when Hitler is praised as an "epitome of altruism" and later informs the assembled masses that he is on a God-given mission.

Triumph of the Will begins with a prologue, the only commentary in the film. On a stone wall, the following text appears: On September 5, 1934, ... 20 years after the outbreak of the World War ... 16 years after the beginning of our suffering ... 19 months after the beginning of the German renaissance ... Adolf Hitler flew again to Nuremberg to review the columns of his faithful followers...

'Day 1': The film opens with shots of the clouds above the city, and then moves through the clouds to float majestically above the beautiful scenery and the assembling masses below. The shadow of Hitler’s plane, filmed from another unseen plane, is visible as it passes over the tiny figures marching below,[2] accompanied by music from Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (which slowly turns into the "Horst Wessel Lied"). Upon arriving at the Nuremburg airport, Hitler emerges from his plane to thunderous applause and a cheering mob. He is then driven into Nuremburg, through equally enthusiastic crowds, to his hotel where a night rally is later held.

'Day 2': The second day begins with a montage of the party faithful getting ready for the opening of the Reich Party Congress, and then footage of the top Nazi officials arriving at the Luitpold Arena.[3] The film then cuts to the opening ceremony, where Rudolf Hess announces the start of the Congress. The camera then introduces much of the Nazi heirarchy and covers their opening speeches, including Joseph Goebbels, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Fritz Todt, Robert Ley, and Julius Streicher. Then the film cuts to an outdoor rally for the Reichsarbeitdienst (Labor Service), which is primarily a series of pseudo-military drills by men carrying shovels. This is also where Hitler gives his first speech on the merits of the Labor Service and praising them for their work in rebuilding Germany. The day then ends with a torchlight SA parade.

'Day 3': The third day starts with a Hitler Youth rally on the parade ground. Again the camera covers the Nazi dignitaries arriving and the introduction of Hitler by Baldur von Schirach. Hitler then addresses the Youth, describing in extremely militaristic terms how they must harden themsleves and prepare for sacrifice. Everyone present then assembles for a military pass and review, featuring Wehrmacht cavalry and various armored vehicles. That night Hitler delivers another speech to low-ranking party officials by torchlight, commemorating the first year since the Nazis took power and declaring that the party and state are one entity.

'Day 4': The fourth day is the climax of the film, where the most memorable of the imagery is presented. Hitler, flanked by Himmler and Lutze, walks through a long wide spanse with over 150,000 SA and SS troops standing at attention, to lay a wreath at a World War I Memorial. Hitler then observes an SA and SS Assembly March, following which he and and Lutze deliver a speech where they discuss the purge of the SA several months prior. Lutze reaffirms the SA's loyalty to the regime, and Hitler absolve all members present of any crimes committed. Following the Concencration of the "Blood Banner" (the same cloth piece carried in the Beer Hall Putsch) and a final parade, Hitler delivers his final speech. In it, he reaffirms the primacy of the Nazi Party in Germany, declaring "all loyal Germans will become National Socialists. Only the best National Socialists are members of the Party!" Hess then closes the Congress, and the film fades to black as the entire crowd sings the Horst Wessel Lied.

Origins

According to Leni Riefenstahl:

Shortly after he came to power Hitler called me to see him and explained that he wanted a film about a Party Congress, and wanted me to make it. My first reaction was to say that I did not know anything about the way such a thing worked or the organisation of the Party, so that I would obviously photograph all the wrong things and please nobody — even supposing that I could make a documentary, which I had never yet done. Hitler said that this was exactly why he wanted me to do it: because anyone who knew all about the relative importance of the various people and groups and so on, might make a film that would be pedantically accurate, but this was not what he wanted. He wanted a film showing the congress through a non-expert eye, selecting just what was most artistically satisfying — in terms of spectacle, I suppose you might say. He wanted a film which would move, appeal to, impress an audience which was not necessarily interested in politics. [4]

However, according to the Internet Movie Database, Riefenstahl had already directed an earlier film for the NSDAP entitled Der Sieg des Glaubens in 1933, which was of an earlier rally. However, all known copies of the film were destroyed after SA Leader Ernst Röhm , who was featured in that film, [5] was executed in the Night of the Long Knives. All published references to Röhm were ordered destroyed in an attempt to erase him from history and only one complete second-generation copy of that earlier film has ever been found. [6]

Filmmaking

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Unlike Sieg des Glaubens, Riefenstahl approached Triumph of the Will with a bigger budget, a larger crew (During the filming, Riefenstahl used 16 teams of cameramen, thirty film cameras, and 120 technicians), extensive preparations, and vital help from high-ranking Nazis like Joseph Goebbels. Albert Speer, Hitler's personal architect, designed the set in Nuremberg and did most of the coordination for the event. In a way, Triumph was more of a remake of Sieg that was technically superior production, ran twice as long and gave a more complete portrait of her subject. [7]

Triumph included such innovative techniques as moving cameras, including one on a tiny elevator attached to a flagpole behind the speaker's podium that provided sweeping panoramic views.[8] It also featured the use of telephoto lenses to create a foreshortening effect (for example, when filming a parade of Nazi flags). There were frequent close-ups of wide-eyed party faithful, and heroic poses of Hitler shot from well below eye-level.[9][10] Ironically, for a film considered to be a propaganda masterpiece, Triumph contains no commentary aside from the prologue, and used "real sound" throughout the film.

The New York Times says it took almost two years to edit the final version from 250 miles of raw footage. [11] However, this time frame is somewhat impractical, as there were only 200 days between the rally in September 1934 and the premier in March 1935.

More pictures of Riefenstahl filming. [12] [13] [14]

Themes

Religion: Religion is a major theme in Triumph. Reporter William Shirer, viewing the rally, observed that, This morning's opening meeting...was more than a gorgeous show, it also had something of the mysticism and religious fervor of an Easter or Christmas Mass in a great Gothic cathedral."[15] The film itself contains many scenes of churchbells ringing, and inviduals in a state of near-religious fervor. The scene where the camera panned over rows and rows of tents set up for the visiting Nazis is reminiscent of religious pilgrimages such as the Hajj. Hitler himself is given messianic properties, from the opening where he descends like Odin from the clouds, to his drive through Nuremburg where even a cat stops what it is doing to watch him, to the many scenes where — standing on his podium — he will issue a command to hundreds of thousands of followers and the audience will comply in unison.

Power: "It is our will that this state shall endure for a thousand years." -- Hitler
Germany had not seen images of military power and strength since the end of World War I, reminding the viewers that Germany was becoming a great power once again. The Eagles and Swastikas could be seen as a reference to the Roman Legions of antiquity.[16] The large mass of well-drilled party members could also be seen as an implied threat to any dissidents thinking of challenging the regime. Hitler's speech to the SA also contained an implied threat: if he could have Röhm, the head of this mass of troops standing on screen, killed, it was only logical to assume that Hitler could have anyone killed and get away with it.

Unity: "Hitler is the Party, Hitler is Germany, Germany is Hitler". -- Hess
Triumph has many scenes that blur the distinction between the Nazi Party, the German State, and the German People. There are scenes where Germans in peasant farmers’ costumes and other traditional clothing greet Hitler. There is also a scene, when he is reviewing the Labor Servicemen, where they individually call out which town or area in Germany they are from. The torch processions at night, though now associated with the Nazis, would remind the viewer of the medieval Karneval celebration.

Controversy

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Like Battleship Potemkin and The Birth of a Nation, Triumph of the Will has been accused of using spectacular filmmaking to promote a monstrous cause. In her defense, Riefenstahl claimed that she had no knowledge of Hitler's genocidal policies, that she was concerned with images over ideas, and that Triumph should be viewed as a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). Film critic Roger Ebert has countered by saying that, though Triumph is "by general consent [one] of the best documentaries ever made", because it reflects the ideology of a movement regarded by many as evil, "[it poses] a classic question of the contest between art and morality: Is there such a thing as pure art, or does all art make a political statement?" [17]

Interestingly, unlike many Nazi films, Triumph contains no anti-Semitic references apart from a veiled comment by Julius Streicher that "A people that does not protect its racial purity will perish!" However, Ebert also observed that, "the very absence of anti-Semitism in Triumph of the Will looks like a calculation; excluding the central motif of almost all of Hitler's public speeches must have been a deliberate decision to make the film more efficient as propaganda." [18]

In Germany, this movie is only allowed to be shown in critical context, e.g. with introductory remarks. This film is considered by many as a way to understand why the German people allowed Hitler to gain power. Riefenstahl herself later said she was naive about the Nazis when she made it.

Trivia

• Clips from this film were used in an Allied propaganda short (reportedly the work of a Canadian film editor) set to the British dance tune, "The Lambeth Walk". The legions of marching soldiers, as well as Hitler giving his Nazi salute, were made to look like wind-up dolls, dancing to the music. Nazi propaganda chief Josef Goebbels is reported to have seen a copy of the short film and was outraged beyond reason, leaving his screening room kicking chairs and screaming profanities.

• Only one scene, the review of the German cavalry, actually involved the German military. The other formations were party organizations that were not considered part of the military.

• When several generals in the Wehrmacht protested over the minimal army presence in Triumph, Hitler proposed his own "artistic" compromise where Triumph would open with a camera slowing tracking down a row of all the "overlooked" generals (and placate each general's ego). According to her own testimony, Riefenstahl boldly refused his suggestion and insisted on keeping artistic control over Triumph of the Will. She did agree to return to the 1935 rally and make a film exclusively about the Wehrmacht, which became Tag der Freiheit.[19]

• Hitler himself praised the film as being an "incomparable glorification of the power and beauty of our Movement".

• At his wedding, Mick Jagger allegedly told Riefenstahl that he had seen Triumph at least 15 times.

Influences and Popular Culture

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During World War II, Frank Capra, who was daunted and terrified by Triumph, made a direct response to it called Why We Fight, a series of seven newsreels commissioned by the United States government which spliced in Triumph footage — recontextualizing it so it promoted the cause of the Allies instead.

The film has also been studied by many in the film industry, including directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Many scenes from the film have been imitated in later movies, especially Star Wars. One such example is the shot where the Emperor enters the hangar in Return of the Jedi, which resembles the scene where Hitler walks past legions of German Stormtroopers. Another scene in Triumph involved a parade past the reviewing stand to the tune of victorious Romantic-era music which Lucas used in Star Wars. Other films to use Triumph–like imagery are Lord of the Rings, The Lion King, Richard III and Red Dawn. The musical Springtime for Hitler in the Mel Brooks comedy The Producers is thought by many to be a spoof on Triumph.

The film's fame (or infamy) has even turned the phrase "Triumph of the Will" into a gag line, because so many people get the Nazi reference. For example, in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when one character shows his creation to his retainers, another exclaims in a fake German accent that it is "a triumph of your vill".

In recent years, some American critics have pointed out that both the Republican Party and Democratic Party have become so obsessed with image and stagecraft, that their national conventions have come to resemble the Nuremberg rally seen in Triumph.

See also

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• Leni Riefenstahl
• Nuremberg rally
• Propaganda
• Propaganda Film

External Links

• Independent Media Center Large screen, high quality segment features marches, music, and a short speech by Adolph Hitler to his SA and SS troops.

• ArtServe at Australian National University No text but lots of screenshots.
• History Department of the University of San Diego Features several film clips.

References

• Triumph des Willens at the Internet Movie Database
• An Evil Faith Victory of Faith & Triumph of the Will by Kenneth Poferl.
• The Triumph of Hitler at The History Place.
• "Triumph of the Will: A Film by Leni Riefenstahl" by David Calvert Smith (Richardson, Tex.: Celluloid Chronicles Press, 1990). A complete screenplay in English.
• Lenin Imports review of Triumph.