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As much as I resist admiring anything the Nazis gave the world except maybe the VW Bug and the bad guys in Raiders of the Lost Ark, I freely admit, this is among the greatest films ever made, and disgusting though it may be to know what National Socialism stood for, I defy anyone with spirit to view The Triumph of the Will and not be dazzled by its scope, its energy, its sheer magnificence of coordination. Even the use of light and shadow was stirring. Whatever else is true of them, the Nazis never did anything on a small scale, including this political rally, which was probably unsurpassed in all of history.

Of course I also watch this film think, "This would have been a very good moment for someone to let off a great big bomb."

What the rally filmed those four days in 1934 presented was an example of what motivated human beings can achieve, even if all their energies were channeled into one of the most ignoble causes ever dreamed up. With each viewing, even while I am thinking "to Hell with every one of you," as I look into the adoring, almost hypnotized faces of all those young people, bug-eyed and drunken on their adoration of Hitler and their collective dreams of glory, I also can't help but feel unwanted pity at how all that hope and devotion was perverted by a psychopath who betrayed his followers and brought Germany to ruin.

Above all I think of the harm those same people did to tens of millions of others, and I wish they'd every last one dropped dead right then and there in their jackboots.

Just imagine if humankind could pour that kind of effort into something good. Sadly I think it is hate that truly brings out the motivation in people, so in the end, The Triumph of Will succeeds most of all as an exercise in sheer depressing tragedy.

Sad but true.

Leni Riefenstahl made a great film, which I have owned on VHS and now DVD.  It is a breathtaking film, as ER points out, full of turds. 

As Allhallows pointed out, it IS a beautiful looking film- but the Nazis had no doing with that. Director Leni Riefenstahl was a genius when it came to set-ups and composition. Try OLYMPIA parts 1 and 2 (1938) in which Leni documented the 1936 Olympic Games. Visually stunning.

Hitler was not happy that Jesse Owens blew Germany out of the water!

http://youtu.be/tomjU60WGnU (http://youtu.be/tomjU60WGnU)

Actually I have seen that, RC, and I agree, brilliant work. I been watching her films lately since I finished reading a book on the 1936 Olympics. I was also watching clips on YouTube of her at age 100, looking remarkably good and obviously clear in her mind, talking about her life's work. A remarkable person.

Sod her Nazi-loving self all the same, though.

Ever seen the clip of the American woman who sneaks up and plants a kiss on Hitler there at the Olympics? Weird to see Hitler smile that way.

I believe the woman kissing (ugh!) Hitler at the Olympics was not American but one of the British Mitford sisters, Diana and Unity. Diana was smitten with Hitler and Nazism in general, and was part of Hitler's 'inner circle'. And she was indeed at the games, as I have a book on Hitler with a photo of Diana with some of the Hitler's 'posse' in the stands.

In the instance I'm talking about it was a newlywed Californian named Carla DeVries, as I remember. There is footage on YouTube, but don't watch it if you've just eaten. Or want to eat anytime in the next few hours.

Oddly Mrs. DeVries became famous later in life for talking a German woman down off a ledge when she'd been planning suicide.

Which is good work and all but still she once kissed Hitler, so... Forever tainted.

OK. I had a knee jerk reflex to rip the OP but seeing his post I can understand his view and respect it.

I have to admit that I found a movie nearly as horrible as  TotW to be something of a masterpiece too.  Birth of a nation was a horrible movie that was responsible for several dozen murders and glorified a group of terrorists and mass murderers.  But it was also a magnificent achievement when viewed thru the lens of its time.  In an era where most movies were 15 minutes of less and usually one long scene,  BoaN was an epic 3 h 13m long.  It was the longest movie of it's era,  had the largest cast,  invented much of what became standard film making techniques like transition shots,  moving cameras,  mass battle scenes,  etc.

It was a terrible movie and all too  often lynchings followed showings of it.  But it was still a massive achievement of it's day.  So I can understand respecting a movie while still condemning it and what it represented.

Leni Reifenstahl was indeed  a brilliant filmmaker, whose talents were used in the service of a monstrously evil regime.
I read an interview with her when she was well over 100, and they were apparently talking about making a biopic about her.
She said one thing she would absolutely insist on would be that there should be not even a hint she ever slept with Josef Goebbels.
She called the Reich Propaganda minister a pig who couldn't keep his hands to himself, to the point that she refused to be in a room alone with him!

Grrr.. Then vhy did you not STATE der voman's name in your original post? Are You TRYING TO MAKE A FOOL UF ME?!

 I VILL HAF YOU TRANSFERED STRAIGHT TO DER RUSSIAN FRONT!!! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT 200 REICHMARKS!!!!

(https://i.imgur.com/49xqgta.gif) (https://lunapic.com)

(just kidding!  :tongueout: )

And then there's Ohm Kruger (1941): an anti-English, pro-South African film made by the Nazis as a gift for South Africa.  :question:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm_Kr%C3%BCger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm_Kr%C3%BCger)

She was an actress too. Her movie the White Hell of Pitz Palu is really good. It's a mountain climbing movie of the type Germans love for some reason.

Good film-maker or not, Riefenstahl was still a piece of s**t. She knew Nazism was wrong-and glorified it for the sake of her own personal gain. And if she DIDN'T think it was wrong-than she's an even bigger piece of s**t.

.....pretty much.

She had admirers among the British who stuck up for her when the days of reckoning came. She wasn't actively involved in propaganda during the war, which went a long way toward saving her, but the Soviets were gunning for her and there are those who hold the view that had a man made the films she did he would have gone to prison after the war. Or maybe been hanged for her contributions like Julius Streicher was.

In the end (pun intended) she was a turd. 

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/archives-of-famous-nazi-film.html (http://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/archives-of-famous-nazi-film.html)