Leni Riefenstahl Triumph des Willens 1935

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Leni RiefenstahlTriumph des Willens (1935)
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aims of this lecture

• Triumph des Willens
• ? Overview of the plot
• ? Filming techniques
• ? Reception of the film
• Biography of Leni Riefenstahl
• Propaganda vs. Documentary Film

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Triumph des Willens

• Released in 1935
• Chronicles 1934 6th Nazi Party Congress in
  Nuremberg
• ? Huge propaganda event over several days
  organised by the state
• Riefenstahls imaginary chronology of the
  congress
• Main objectives of the Nazi Party Congress
• ? Celebrate the Party
• ? Appeal to the Volksgemeinschaft

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filming techniques

• Narrative beginning
• Hitler descending literally vom Himmel
• Apart from prologue no verbal commentary
• Rapid cuts, recombination of scenes and use of
  music (e.g. Richard Wagner)
• Close-ups of crowds
• Shot and countershot sequences
• ? Individual and close relationship between
  Hitler and his people
• Hitler as father-figure
• Hitler as military leader and leader of the
  country

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response to the film

• Response to the content
• Instant success in Germany
• Reception in other countries
• Response to the aesthetic side
• Revolutionary filming and cutting technique
• Influence on images in advertising
• Influence on contemporary directors

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biography I

• Leni Riefenstahl born 1902, died 2003
• 1926 Der heilige Berg
• 1930 Stürme über dem Montblanc
• 1932 Das blaue Licht
• 1933 Der Sieg des Glaubens
• 1934 Triumph des Willens
• 1935 Tag der Freiheit Unsere Wehrmacht
• 1938 Olympia

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biography II
Die Nuba Menschen wie von einem anderen
Stern, München 1973

• 2002 Impressionen unter Wasser

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propaganda vs. documentary film

• If you see this film again today you ascertain
  that it doesnt contain a single reconstructed
  scene. Everything in it is true. And it contains
  no tendentious commentary at all. It is history.
  A pure historical film... It reflects the truth
  that was there in 1934, history. It is therefore
  a documentary. Not a propaganda film. Oh! I know
  very well what propaganda is. That consists of
  recreating events in order to illustrate a
  thesis, or, in the face of certain events, to let
  one thing go in order to accentuate another. I
  found myself, me, at the heart of an event which
  was the reality of a certain time and a certain
  place. My film is composed of what stemmed from
  that. (Leni Riefenstahl, Interview 1964)
• A documentary film is a broad category of visual
  expression that is based on the attempt, in one
  fashion or another, to document reality.
  (Encyclopedia, documentary film)