True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Triumph of the Will
A prime record of the 20th century. This 2-hour documentary was created
as a propaganda film for the Nazis, to introduce Germany and the world
to Adolf Hitler and his deputies Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and
other now infamous men. It was filmed during the Nuremberg Rally in
1934 and features amazingly vivid scenes: stadiums of hypnotized youth,
infinite marching columns of black-booted soldiers, and the awesome
spectacle of precision mass rallies. All these now-cliche cinematic images
were invented by this true film. The access is so close, the shots
so artistically designed, that one feels as if were a scripted Hollywood
movie, which it kind of is. Each shot is staged with supreme drama. At
the climax, Hitler delivers his Third Reich speech, and we can see each
drop of sweat roll down his face. For a full understanding of how this film
captured (and disseminated) the Nazi ideology, listen to the historian’s
commentary track, in addition to the English subtitles.
By Leni Riefenstahl
1934, 110 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Disciplined crowd scenes timed to the second,
without a person out of place. A soldier
in ecstatic reverence (below right) as the
Fuhrer passes by.
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