Touches You

One of my all time favorites.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Triumph of the Will is a filmmaker's masterpiece in almost every way— especially cinematography and symbolism. You are not likely to see one Aryan in this film without a happy and proud smile on his face. It was made that way, don't you see? It's very likely that every frame of this film was edited and then approved by Hitler, himself, for tone and content. I'm also quite sure that many scenes of the film were added after the Nuremberg Rally had finished. Most of the crowd scenes were, no doubt, taken in real time. But the little determined drummer (@ 41:50") and that overjoyed lady running--with the little blond girl in her arms--to give flowers to Hitler (@ 6:21) were probably staged. (Does anyone notice that the woman is just giving those flowers to a German soldier's arms as he is riding in a car? Those arms could have been anyone's.) And, what about those cutaway shots to those "bright young faces"? I'm sure that, during the last 80 years, this propaganda film has been deconstructed and analyzed many times, as the technology for such analysis has become available. It seems as though almost everything in the film could have been re-created after the actual rally. What does that leave us that we can trust—the flags and banners being marched into the rally?

"Triumph des Willens" or "Triumph of the Will" is a German black-and-white documentary film from 80 years ago. 1935 means this was done 2 years after the Nazis' rise to power, one year before the Olympic Games (fittingly the mentions of "peace" in this film) and 4 years before World War II. It documentary the Nazi Party rally 1934 in Nuremberg. We see great parades, we see significant speeches by all the big players from German politics at that time. Of course, this also includes Adolf Hitler, who we see in quite a few speeches, also the one that closes the ceremony.I must say it is a very absurd watch, sometimes even funny in an embarrassing way and it is hard to believe that people took this really seriously. But obviously they did and it's difficult to judge them as we have not lived during that era and have not lived through the hard times of World War I and the years afterward. It is your decision what approach to take to that film. If you see it from the perspective trying to find out about and understand history in 1930s Germany, this may be a rewarding experience. If not, you will probably disgusted by the despicable recordings, even if it is nowhere near the likes of "Jud Süß" obviously. It is propaganda, but not that hateful really.I do not agree with the decision to ban films like these. We need to keep them alive and watch them in order to understand history, even if it is about dark times. We need to be informed in order to make sure times like these won't repeat themselves again at some point in the future. Denial of the past is not the way to go. This is also why I give this film a thumbs up, a fairly high rating and recommend this one to people with an interest in global politics of the first half of the 20th century. If that description fits you, go check it out no matter where you come from.

Crafted with rigour, shot with astute vision & resonating an undeniable power throughout its runtime, Triumph of the Will is arguably the most powerful propaganda piece of all time that presents the ideals of Adolf Hitler & his Nazi party in such a clever manner that it convinced the German civilians that their nation is destined for eternal glory if they put their faith in the leadership of the Führer, and is also a celebration of Germany's revival as a great power.Triumph of the Will chronicles the Nazi Party Rally held at Nuremberg in 1934 where some of the most infamous Nazi leaders give their speeches in front of 700,000 Nazi supporters. The whole picture is filled with images of Nuremberg, multiple scenes featuring countless troops rallying through the city's streets, various moments that capture the public reaction and rally speeches, all repeated several times over the course of its 114 minutes of runtime.Directed by German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl under the orders of Adolf Hitler himself who wanted to reach the masses through a movie that would capture the ideals of his party and influence the civilians to join & support his cause, Triumph of the Will provides a calculated view of National Socialism for the only thing its leaders keep talking about is restoring their nation to its once-mighty status & reviving the nationalist spirit in every German citizen.There is no explicit mention of the numerous atrocities Nazi would later perpetrate during the Second World War and in most ways, the documentary succeeds in painting a positive portrait of National Socialist Party. Each frame brims with strong feelings of patriotism, the wide shots of massive troops formations serves as an inspiring reminder that Germany is powerful once again and the profound effect of Hitler's speeches cannot be understated.Triumph of the Will also features politics of the highest order. It beautifully exhibits just how easily public will rally its support to the party's cause if they can manage to create a perfect illusion. Using the humiliation Germany was subjected to after World War I to his advantage, Hitler's speeches make relentless use of religion, power & unity to instil the German pride in every citizen and by delivering on previous promises, easily succeeds in earning their trust & services.The infamous documentary is also influential for a number of innovations it brings into the world of filmmaking, both in its use of camera & music. Sitting through the picture however is a tedious experience for it becomes repetitive very soon and stays on the same level for the rest of its runtime. The propaganda element works only on looking back & in more ways than one, it's a documentary that captures what possibly was the true state of Germany in the 1930s.The most memorable thing about Riefenstahl's direction, apart from her technical mastery over all aspects of filmmaking, is the strong psychological pull she's able to generate just by those ingeniously photographed images. From the outside, Triumph of the Will appears as an immensely boring documentary in which similar set of events unfold in loop form for the majority of its runtime, but it also manages to seduce its viewers into admiring as well as believing in the Nazi propaganda.It's astonishing that this film still retains a certain level of its potency despite being 80 years old which makes me wonder just how persuasive it must have been for the German public back in 1935. It sheds a completely different light on Hitler & his party and while it isn't an enjoyable experience by any means, it's bold, powerful & evocative nonetheless. Significant for its contribution to cinema & illustrating a vital segment of human history, Triumph of the Will captures the irrefutable power of cinema like no other example, before or after.

Before I get to my assessment of this cinematic work, let me remind you of my bias: I hate Nazism, I hate fascism in all of its forms (and I would hate an American fascism, so it is not a matter of hating fascism because of its ties to some foreign culture), I consider Hitler and all of his associates pure evil. Even if I fit all the criteria for being a perfect Aryan by Nazi 'racial' criteria, I would rather become a Jew than a Nazi. At least as a Jew I would be able to maintain my current moral and cultural values.Yes, it is an infamous piece of propaganda showing how completely and quickly Hitler took complete control of Germany, offering himself as a focus of national unity. Riefenstahl shows some of the best camera work to its time, advancing the great achievement of German cinematography that before Hitler rivaled anything else -- even Hollywood productions. It is worth watching as a depiction of Nazi Germany as the purest despotism that has ever existed. Much of this staging is choreography showing the extreme regimentation already in effect in Germany roughly a year after the Devil Incarnate took power. But such, alas, is now educational -- a study of Nazi propaganda, and that is the cause of my mediocre rating.Hitler already gets treatment that rock stars of our time get even if the lyrics are banal and the music is shallow. Even if Hitler manages to avoid the infamous denunciations of foreign powers and especially the Jews -- even the arch-bigot Julius Streicher is shown calling only for Germans to protect their 'racial purity', which is no nastier than the racist rhetoric in the USA at the time. If Hitler is not responsible for the music, the music (which is the choice of Riefenstahl) is uniformly banal -- unison brass over pounding drums. The great irony is that this bad music comes from the country that gave the world Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn (excuse me -- the Nazis banned his music!), Wagner, Brahms, and Hindemith (oh, he fled!). Needless to say, any value as entertainment is sparse at best.The choreography within the rally site is clearly the doing of the Nazi Party and its subsidiary organizations. It does with people what Hitler's paintings do -- trivialize everything human. It is hard to imagine that Riefenstahl could make any mistakes with that except to use too few camera angles. That, of course, she commands masterfully. Of course some of the regimentation looks ludicrous -- the farmers and construction workers marching with the tools of their work as if they were soldiers. But such is my contemporary bias against military-style discipline where it serves no obvious purpose other than to obliterate individuality. Much is made of ceremonies at night, with fire taking a prominent role... I can think of some American fascists who typically have their rallies at night and heavily use fire to 'illuminate' their ceremonies.This is a Party Congress... and one must admit that it is more impressive in its pageantry than any party convention, Democratic or Republican, in the United States. Of course, in American political conventions, words and policies are not preset pablum. But that is a valid comparison -- something like the Republican National Convention of 1980 or the Democratic National Convention of 2008, both of which had far more wit and wisdom than did speakers at the 1934 Nazi Party Congress. We get a unique insight into Adolf Hitler as a speaker -- and how fit his prose is for infantile, obedient simpletons. We get to see his pious lies about the Night of the Long Knives, a series of murders against rivals and old enemies. Hitler is not John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, or Barack Obama. If you were looking for something as profound as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address or Churchill's "Finest Hour" speech, you will be terribly disappointed. Heck, the speech of Charlie Chaplin's "Jewish barber" impersonating "Der Phooey" at the end of The Great Dictator (which spoofs Hitler) has richer rhetoric. Hitler has learned nothing from Goethe or Schiller. Hitler is introduced flying into Nuremberg as if a god -- consider that Hitler could exploit the novelty of flight to impress people who thought that fliers were gods. He leaves the venue by automobile. The adulation of the closest person ever to being the Antichrist is genuine enough; people are making the Nazi salute with no obvious prompting or staging. As Rudolf Hess put it, Hitler then is Germany, and Germany is Hitler on the days of the 1934 Party Congress.