Review of Triumph of the Will (1935) by Pat M — 07 Feb 2008

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL is the one film that would go on to haunt Leni Riefenstahl until the day she died. It gave her the reputation of being a Nazi. It is such a shame that people had to speculate about her personal political views instead of just watch or not watch her films. I will admit that TRIUMPH OF THE WILL is undoubtedly a Nazi propoganda film, however that does not necessarily mean that Riefenstahl was a Nazi. All it means really is that she did not openly oppose the Nazi regime, but then again there aren't too many Germans that did in those days. Were all Germans Nazis then? Of course not. Then lets move on and see the film for what it is.

While I think OLYMPIA is her better work, this movie definately shows that Riefenstahl is talented no question. She is in complete control of every shot and image. What I love about her work is that each and every minut detail is carefully planned and prefected. The result was a masterpiece that effectively does what she was commisioned to do which is create a smart Nazi propoganda film. All of the people we see close up are the stereotypical Aryan people. Adolf Hitler himself is in 1/3 of all the shots in the film. Not just anyone is going to get that kind of access to Hitler during this time.

Hitler wanted a film that would generate excitement among the German people about the Nazi movement. In order to do this he knew he needed the best and that was Riefenstahl. When Hitler came to someone at that time and asked something of them, they did it, the risk of saying no was too great. So Riefenstahl agreed and made the film the best way she knew how. This film is perfect in a sense. It does exactly what Hitler wanted and half the time we don't even realize that we are seeing these images that promote Nazi ideas. That is simply brilliant, however it is also dangerous and scary. That is where I persponally have a problem with the film but that is the film's purpose and she did it well.

Leni Riefenstahl said later in her life that if she knew what this film would do to her reputation for the rest of her life she would have never done it, and I believe it. Her achievements were undermined by the fact that people assumed she was a Nazi because of this film. That is truly a shame. The shots are brilliant and everything is executed so perfectly. I really don't think that if this film had not been made that anything would have changed as far as history goes. It isn't fair to put that on her as a filmmaker. She spent the rest of her life trying to erase the reputation that her brilliant work had created.