Customer Reviews

Triumph of the Will [VHS]

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL has long been viewed through a dual perspective: It is both reviled by many for its glorification of Hitler, and at the same time praised for the masterful work of its director, the legendary Leni Riefenstahl (who at the time of this writing is still alive...I think she's over 100 by now). The truth is, it is all of that and more - a highly memorable, fascinating experience on several levels:

1. Despite the subject matter, it must be acknowledged that this film does what it was made to do marvelously well: It is a masterpiece of the art of propaganda...somethng that is practiced every day by all governments, in advertising, and in all political campaigns - but never better than this. The film does an amazing job of tapping deep into the German psyche, with scenes of Nuremburg, youth, etc., and allusions to great Germans of the past, all designed to tug at the "volkish" national sentiment, then deftly superimposed with images of Hitler. Very crafty, but no different than what we see every day in our media-saturated world.

2. As a study of the early the Nazi era, it is invaluable. Regardless of what happened in the years that followed, TRIUMPH needs to be viewed as a statement of its own era, when none of the horrors had yet happened and many around the world still referred to the Nazi regime (which was then consolidating power and trying to reach the hearts and minds of the people) as "the German renaissance". The commentary track adds a fascinating "what happened to that Nazi?" perspective.

3. This film has become unbelievably influential (possibly because it is still required viewing in film schools); it is perhaps second only to THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN as the most visually quoted film in hstory. Just a few examples: The closing scene in STAR WARS, "Be Prepared" from THE LION KING, and especially the entrance of Commodus into Rome from GLADIATOR are all lifted directly from visuals in TRIUMPH. Even more common is the visual "homage" that directors sometimes subtly insert, such as the woman being tossed in the air from THE BIG LEBOWSKI (remember the kid at the beginning of TRIUMPH)? The list goes on and on.

One certainly does not need to sympathize with the Nazis to appreciate this film. In fact, it is precisely because of what became of them that makes this early look so fascinating. Still, I would not call this "entertainment"; rather, this is a piece to study and analyze. Recommended for any student of history, sociology, mass media, or film.

I had seen TotW in the theatre (Anthology Film Archives, NYC), on video and I could feel the power, in spite of the jumpy images, splotches of darkness, scratchy prints. The DVD transfer is magisterial. Clean, sharp, the underlying visual rhythm clearly discernible, the structure of the work exerting its magic without restraint. And, as good a sound as one can ever expect. The transition between pompous nocturnal nazi party celebrations to a misty dawn progressively clearing to reveal air views of Nuremberg's ancient rooftops, with the lens coming to rest fully sharp on row upon row of simmetrical white tents, where party members are waking up, all set to the quiet prelude to the third act of Wagner's Meistersinger (a piece in itself celebratory of German art and set in medieval Nuremberg), is pure cinema magic. And it establishes visual continuity (ergo historical?) from the traditional Germany of Hans Sachs to its 20th century flowering under Adolf Hitler...... not a small feat to accomplish within less than a handful of cinematic minutes.

Like magic, there is technique behind it. This is not a news-style documentary but a film constructed flawlessly in the editing room. Leni had full control of the editing and supposedly did most of it herself. The result is mesmerizing. One can understand how an unthinking populace could fall for it, and how keen an intellect and great an artist Riefenstahl is (I gather she's still active at 90+). This is not just a nicely crafted collection of pretty pictures of an old city and massive nazi spectacle. Everything is calculated to evoke an emotional response helping consolidate the identification of Germany as Hitler and Hitler as Germany. Yet, it is also a beautiful film. It is frightening for its lack of human ambiguity, for the willful surrender of a people to a master. There is a lot of "joy" portrayed in the film (perhaps of the "strength through joy" kind) but after seeing it this time, I realized there is not a single funny moment in it.

Placing myself in 1935 Germany, and erasing from my mind everything that subsequently happened, I was comfortably glad to realize that, temperamentally, I would have had a hard time with the nazis, indeed would probably have reacted to all things around me by becoming an anarchist or some such thing. But ... who knows? Films like this are made to seduce.

The DVD comes with a short documentary of German military maneuvres also from 1935. It still amazes me that the French and the English, seeing these two films, not to mention taking into account other German actions in the Ruhr, etc., did not commence rearmament sooner or would not have been so duped at Munich.

If you feel it is immoral to watch this movie .... get over it. Anyone with a serious interest in film needs to see this. Anyone interested in seeing how visual imagery can be structured to propagate a faith needs to see this. For that matter, all our contemporary putative manipulators: marketeers, political consultants, advertising executives, TV and movie producers ought to see this. Citizens who want to remain informed and self-determinating ought to see this. Most immediately, anyone who wants to put together a beautiful, masterly structured film from tons of negative reels needs to see this.... and I don't think anyone born after the war has seen it better than in this DVD.

It's easy to see how this now famous (or infamous) 1934 film by Leni Riefenstal could have helped reinforce Hitler's already dizzying domination of the German psyche. For our own time, it helps reveal the human complexity of the Nazi phenomenon - so much more than just a march of crazed fanatics, as it's often stereotyped today. Triumph of the Will is particularly relevant to current politics - the Austrian controversy, as well as the continued importance of various dictators who still garner so much of the media spotlight.

Sadly, the near-sightedness of the Nazi mentality and its contradictory nature were already glaringly apparent at the time the movie was shot. Hitler's frenzied admonitions to value "peace" but at the same time to cultivate "courage", bristle with contradiction and hypocrisy. Brief allusions to racial purity and clear-cut moral rectitude are darkly ominous, as are the reiterated pledges of allegiance to Hitler , the man. It's instructive to compare Nazi rhetoric with much of today's political hype. Though, as many others have pointed out, nobody else has done it with quite the same elan. Sad to think that had they watched their own film with a more discerning eye, they might have seen what we see.

From an artistic standpoint, I can appreciate why it's cited as one of the most accomplished of all propagandist vehicles. Nazi shortcomings notwithstanding, the film is stunning. Riefenstahl's contribution is self-evident - even if she didn't direct the action herself, she captured and organized it admirably. But for all that, it is still the action which is most spellbinding. The gripping facial expressions, the charismatic speeches, the thundering shouts of allegiance, the enormous scale and choreography - all of this actually took place! Combine that with historical perspective - knowing what all of it would lead to - and the movie acquires a distincively haunting quality.

I not only recommend this film to others, I strongly advise it. It captures the very essence of social fanaticism. Many will instinctively feel its primitive appeal, and then, after putting it into perspective, recognize its inherent madness. Watching this movie, appreciating the feelings it evokes and reflecting on what it all means, will make the viewer a better person.

After slogging through a number of these reviews it is clear that most cannot see that we Twenty-First Century Americans were not the intended audience for this movie. The movie was intended to be a unifying morale-builder for the National Socialist Party in Germany, which had been in power only about a year when this movie was made.

From its loss of World War I until the NSDAP was elected to power in Germany in 1934, the people had suffered every kind of internecine mob warfare, illegal abuse and theft of whole portions of Germany at the hands of the French, and an economic catastrophe that made our American Depression look like a picnic by comparison.

This movie sought to persuade Germans (GERMANS!) that this dreadful misery was finally over and that the criminal Bolshevik traitors responsible for Germany's defeat in World War I, and all the residual woes, would be defeated once and for all. It must have been a most welcome message because as you watch the film you certainly don't get the impression that anyone had to beg the many thousands of Germans who attended the NSDAP rallies to stand up and cheer their hearts out.

If you speak and understand German, you'll have a much greater likelihood of being able to understand the impact of these rallies, and this film that celebrates them. For many who are not conversant in the German language or who know little about the actual history of the time besides what they were exposed to in American World War II films, the film is actually pretty boring after a while.

You sit there and watch one group of soldiers, police, or workers after another, marching and marching and marching. This is interspersed with speeches by Hitler and the other Party officals. From time to time you'll see interesting-looking people doing everyday things, some in costume, but mostly they're just talking, walking, eating, brushing their teeth, and so on. Be advised -- for those of you who expect the whole thing to be a stirring, gigantic SS parade with weapons bristling, be prepared to be disappointed. The last group of soldiers on parade are indeed the SS Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler, and they're marching to what was reputedly Hitler's favorite piece -- "Der Badenweiler". Remember to notice that they aren't even carrying rifles or bayonets....

Lastly, in my opinon, the commentary by "historian" Dr Anthony Santoro is mostly just another sarcastic, demeaning rant against the people in the film, so typical of those who pronounce judgement on the vanquished after every war. The marching soldiers and other Germans who reverberated such thrills of hope for their poor, beleagured country are all long dead, but Santoro must make fun of them for the amusement (?) of the American audience. Try to remember -- this movie was not made for YOU!

I fully understand both the reviews of disappointment and approval of this DVD, "The Triumph of the Will." As a WWII fanatic, and one who owns virtually every important, and less important, documentary, I give this film a five-star review for many reasons. Before I share those reasons, once again, I sympathize with those with less favorable responses. The one criticism that I relate to is the marching sequences. The film begins with what appears to be endless marching in 1934 Nuremberg.

What is particularly monotonous is the lack of variety; with so many thousands of soldiers marching with spades (post WWI armistice limited Germany to a 100-thousand army, so they didn't want to appear aggressive at that stage), I was expecting to see tiger tanks with their 88 mm. guns, field artillery, transports, and quite literally "the whole nine yards", but this is not the case. You will see the SA, the SS, soldiers and nazis of every shape and uniform, but no hardware other than shovels and swords, banners, swastikas, and decorum. So the disappointment for me, and from what I gain from other reviews, is that Leni Rienfestahl (hereafter LR) gives us plenty of marching soldiers ad tedium. The viewer is treated to about 25 minutes of introductory marching before the first speech.

However, the strengths of the film far outweigh the flaws. Keep in mind, 1930's movie making was far different than it is today. Back then, if a director wanted to "truck" in or out with the camera, he/she had to literally use a truck to do that, giving a zooming effect (that's where the word "truck" came from as per movie directing). In addition, LR had to use existing light sources, large or small, and no added SFX, B-roll editing, and lap dissolves were done by hand. The film reminded me so much of Disney's "Fantasia" with the use of lighting effects, and vignettes consisting of brief fade-in and fade-outs to build viewer expectation and tension.

Now, my list of favorable feature findings:

1. The extended raw footage and splendid directing allows the viewer to appreciate the ambience of the moment. You feel that you are actually there experiencing the moment. My mother attended a number of Hitler Youth rallies, and told me that a combination of music, color, chanting, etc., left the participant feeling almost paralyzed. The SA had their members littered everywhere throughout the audience who would continually incite the audience to react with heated emotion and praise.

2. The speeches by Hitler and others are unedited. When you view other documentaries, such as "The World at War," you will be treated to only a few moments of speech sound bites. In this DVD, you will see Hitler uncut and hear his words, which are as strange as watching the man himself. He reminds me of a sales speaker I once heard, blasting the audience with the qualities of his product, but not explaining why the audience should buy it. The tripe and shallowness of Hitler's words can only really be appreciated as one can both observe, and listen to his presentation uninterrupted. Here again, the vast majority of documentaries out there give only snippets of Hitler's speeches. Suggestion: if you get tired of the marching and want to view the speeches, simply jot down the times from your DVD player.

3. As a propaganda film produced to be exported, we understand what the nazis held to be near and dear: Hitler was in full gear with his war machine and wanted to show German might through intimidation. The well-orchestrated rally demonstrated unity, determination, organization, and most importantly a national "vision" of a German ideal codified in one individual, Adolph Hitler. As Hess declared to the people, "Hitler is Germany; Germany is Hitler." The sheer numbers of the multitudes is awesome; I can only try to imagine what it must have been like to have been a Frenchman, or Hungarian, or a Russian, viewing this film for the first time.

4. As an extended film, the viewer can see how the people dressed and carried out their daily lives at the time. How sad that Nuremberg was such a magnificent city prior to the Allied bombing, and the introductory aerial scenes of the city are breathtaking.

5. This is a digitally remastered DVD from 35mm film. The resolution is excellent to the degree that you can see the follicles in a close-up of Hitler's face. Unlike many similar documentaries of questionable quality, this DVD allow the viewer to appreciate facial expressions, uniform insignia, and other detail.

If you view this film in the historical context in which it was produced, LR was indeed brilliant and "done Hitler proud." If you want Hitler in the context of modern filmmaking, you will probably feel disappointed. An excellent alternative would be the recent feature film about the last ten days of Hitler's life titled, "Downfall", produced in German with English sub-titles. Even still, try to view "Triumph of the Will" in the context of what the Nazis wanted the world to see: behind the pagentry -- power!

Then, be prepared to enter real history: a Nazi night rally, Hitler youth (notice the commitment and determination on their faces!), the farmer's march, the magnificent Congress Hall of the NSDAP, Reich labor review, Reichswehr review, SA and SS review, the Liebstandarte bodyguards, Lutze, Hess, Goebbels, Hitler, and yes, lots of marching. So, fasten your boots, enjoy, and if the marching is a bit much, keep your remote handy.

I object to the placing of the reviews under different/wrong DVD releases! Now you are looking at the Moonstone release. It does not contain a booklet. It is a PAL version. It is poor quality picture, only slightly better than VHS. It also contains the short film Tag der Freiheit. The sound, however, is quite good!
It is hard to choose, sometimes, but not with Triumph des Willens; nothing beats the Synapse special edition with commentary track! The picture and sound is probably better than you'll ever see.

"Triumph of the Will" is Leni Riefenstahl's infamous propaganda masterpiece that has been both applauded and condemned -- misunderstood and manipulated. Despite the attempts by politically correct film critics to simply dismiss Riefenstahls work as "fascistic crap" - Triumph Of The Will remains a beautiful, poignant dedication to what could be best described as the "last gasp" of classical Europe. The photography is simply stunning and the fluid-like movement of the various sequences provides a sense of continuity rarely paralleled in modern film.

One of the reasons Riefenstahl's work has simply not "faded away" like the dozens of other German and Italian propaganda films of the era, is because Riefenstahl had an acute, sensitive understanding of her subject matter. She tackled her work as an artist, not a politician. Without the trappings of an agenda, Riefenstahl allowed herself to explore on film the hopes and aspirations of her country - who after losing almost 2 generations of men during the First World War and suffering a decade of humiliation and economic deprivation, saw itself as a phoenix rising from the ashes to reclaim its past - a past that had produced Goethe and Nietzsche, Mozart and Wagner.

Although not a member of the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl was one of many European artists of the era who embraced the National Socialist ideal of "cultural regeneration" - or, a rejection of modernism in favor of a return to the values and ideals of classical Europe. Riefenstahl realizes these ideals in her film by subtly juxtaposing National Socialist Germany with the pageantry and heroism of ancient Greece and Rome (with flavors of Germanic mythology).

By and large it would seem that most members of the public and self-proclaimed "film buffs" have never actually seen this film or at best only viewed portions of it. Why is Triumph of the Will important? Not because it is a "bizarre" cinematic look at totalitarianism, but because it is the only occasion in the history of film that Western civilization was captured AS it was actually changing - as desperate and as painful as that process was. That said, Riefenstahl proves herself a masterful director with a flair for cultivating and building upon abstract and larger-than-life themes. She is at once experimental and bold, technique-driven and sensible. Like her contemporary, the classical sculptor Arno Brecker, Riefenstahl allows herself to celebrate the future with a colorful eye on the past.

Watch this film and you are watching history.

I've owned a VHS copy of this film for 20 years or so and was eager to replace it with a DVD. I'd hoped for better quality than this. On the other hand, the optional running commentary by historian Dr. Anthony R. Santoro is worth the price of admission. If you want to understand the evil that was Adolf Hitler and Naziism, you gotta go to the original source material and this is the Real Deal. This is how Hitler and his people wanted the world to see them and, given the perspective of history, it's far more revealing than they could have known at the time.
No wonder than Frank Capra borrowed heavily from Triumph of the Will when he wanted to show the sinister aspect of the Nazis in his "Why We Fight" series of films for the U.S. armed forces.
If you're serious about history or film (or the history of film), this DVD belongs in your collection.

Adolf Hitler is making a comeback. When CBS announced the mini-series (originally adapted from Ian Kershaw's "Hubris") that takes a look at Hitler before he entered politics created a furor over the idea of giving this man's life any more attention than it already receives or deserves. The very notion of a network profiting from anything relating to Hitler or his Nazi-based philosophy is a flash-point of controversy.

On a personal note, in the 70's I researched and developed a detailed story called "Young Hitler's Secret Life." It was optioned by Bob Banner & Associates and taken to NBC where it was tested by several focus groups. The concept of a multi-part TV movie that asked "What made the man the monster?" tested higher than anything that had previously been broadcast. Nervous potential sponsors did their own testing and concluded that no matter how the material was presented, up to 20 per-cent of the audience would sympathize with the central character. The network and sponsors' fear was that any attempt to dramatize Adolf Hitler implied understanding him, and for some in the potential audience, that apparently meant excusing or erasing the evil. Or worse, embracing Hitler and his ideas.

My approach to the material focused on the unusual pseudo spiritual, occult themes he studied in his youth and how this peculiar German mysticism influenced his politics and eventually tapped into the collective central nervous system of his followers who, in the end, literally worshipped him as a messiah. NBC eventually dropped the project. It will be interesting to see how CBS handles this material and the public response. Networks, like Hitler, are always looking for the target audience's widest base desire, emotion, or pathology on which to hang their hidden agenda -- advertising.

Hitler was a nobody. A failed artist and a dreamer. From out of nowhere he rose like the Germanic god of war Wotan and turned a defeated, demoralized third-world country into a blazing world power. To hide from the reality of the human -- and other forces -- that engulfed the world 60 years ago makes us even more vulnerable to the contemporary spiritual and political winds that are blowing on the hot kindling of chaos that threaten to ignite us.

Last month (of this writing) German director Leni Reifenstahl celebrated her 100th birthday. Although she continues to deny any special relationship with Hitler, the genius of this filmmaker helped propel Hitler into the iconic force of dark power that he so carefully crafted and craved. Except for the Pope's official visits to foreign countries, no propaganda event comes close to the extraordinary, overwhelming visceral potency of Reifenstahl's TRIUMPH OF THE WILL.

Hitler hired Reifenstahl to make a filmed record of the Reich's 1934 rally in Nuremburg. Hitler was a film buff (he loved Disney cartoons and was often heard whistling "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf"). He was an ardent fan of Wagner's epic opera's and at one time even made notes for an original opera and its staging. He innately understood the necessary theatrics of staging public political rallies. The symbols, the banners, the waiting, the music, the marching, the uniforms, the torches and the message. It all had to come together with an explosive orgasm of shared emotion.

Triumph of the Will is an important film. Certainly more significant and meaningful than Citizen Kane. Masterfully designed, shot and edited, TOTW is a witness to the power of beholding that generates change. To see this film -- no, it won't make you a nazi -- in its entirety is to understand how Hitler cast his spell. Forget the crowds overcome by weeping, hyperventilating hysteria at the feet of Elvis, or the reception of the Beatles at their first U.S. concerts. What can compare to Hitler parting a sea made up of hundreds of thousands of standing-at-attention and transfixed believers as he marches to the podium. Or to see the massive, flaming swastikas made up of hundreds of hand-held torches slowly turning in the darkness like the grinding gears of the gates of hell. Images staged and yet real.

This Special Edition is a new windowboxed digital transfer that exposes all of the film frame. Light black bars appear on all four sides of the image.

The interesting audio commentary is by historian Dr. Anthony R. Santoro. Also included is Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 short film, "Day of Freedom" ("Tag der Freiheit"). The newly translated -- and removable -- English subtitles are disturbing and compelling.

The aim of the rallies and parades described here was to create dramatic impressions that overcame rationality and reached the emotions of participants. The adrenlin that must have been generated among the thousands at these rallies and other Nazi events, probably could have filled an ocean. Wilhelm Reich's _Mass Pyschology of Fascism__ gives a very good analysis of this aspect of the Nazi party and its regime.

The film captures the Sixth Congress of the Nazi party in 1934, the first after Hitler had come to office. What also see is how the Nazis studied what the theater, the cinema, the church, and the pyschologists had learned about the use of pagentry, of light and darkness, of symbol and ceremony to craft their spectacles.


I remember the first time I saw it, I watched it in solemn, silent awe, as impressed by its images as I was disgusted and terrified by what it documented.

Leni Riefenstahl was a genius. The film techniques used, the editing, the absence of any narration, and the way you are struck by the film despite the utterly disgusting spectacle that this film was, are great example of the what both creativity and technical achievement can produce.
It is a massive example of the central concept of dramatic art: SHOW DON'T TELL.

The film was used not only as a propoganda piece around the world where it won many prizes, but as indoctrination in Germany itself. Every school child in Germany was forced to see this film with its marching storm troopers, its shreaking speaches by Hitler, Goebels, and other Nazi leaders, and its display of pagentry.

All of this was not by accident. The congress came after a major crisis in the Nazi movement. The Nazis had always had a radical rhetoric, claiming to defend working people (The party's actual name was the German National Socialist Workers party) against the huge landowners, the bankers, the corporate plutocrats who had in fact bankrolled and managed Hitler's rise to power. A radical wing of the party was concentrated in the SA, the storm troopers--the Nazi's gangs of organized thugs and street brawlers--, their leader, Ernst Roehm. After Hitler came to power in 1933 Roehm demanded a "second revolution" by the Nazis against the plutocrats. Roehm demand a merger of the Army which was the lynch pin of the old Prussian Aristoracy and Germany's new capitalist magnates-- and the storm troopers be combined under the Roehm's leadership. Germany's ruling class threatened to replace Hitler, or, at least not allow him to succeed the ailing President Von Hindenberg, if Roehm and the other adherents of the "second revolution" were not crushed.

In June 1934 Hitler had hundreds of Storm Troopers including Roehm murdered. Roehm was replaced by Viktor Lutze, an insignificant police official and the SA was allowed to whither away. Meanwhile. the SS, Protective Squadron, which had hitherto been Hitler's personal body guard was extended to become a large organization, fielding its own military divisions in the the Second World War.

The Sixth Nazi Congress shown in the _Triumph of the Will_ took place in September 1934, only a few months after the SA purge. Throughout the film you are continually seeing Viktor Lutze, you are continually seeing affirmations of loyalty by the Storm Troops, including a huge cermony in which tens of thousands of Storm Troppers swear allegiance to Hitler (Previously, these thugs swore to obey their unit commanders only). In the speech that concludes the Congress and the film, Hitler 's final point is that the two institutions that are the foundation of the new order in Germany are the Army and its aristocartic leadership and the Nazi party.

The rally ratified loyalty to Hitler, loyalty to the course of serve the capitalists, the landowners, and the army after the Roehm purge.

The splender of the triumph of the will, the marching thousands, the banners, the spotlights, the festivities of women, children, townspeople, and the brown shirted hordes, all was staging to ratify that the same old plutocrats and big landowners that Hitler had claimed to fight for the interest of Germany's people were still in the saddle.