Triumph of the Will (1935)

In Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, the beginning always amazes me. It begins in the clouds—it’s very dream-like. Hitler was a dream to the German people; he was going to rebirth the nation. I disagree with you [Dr. Hendricks] on the basis that Hitler was a god-like [Greek] figure; whereas, I view him more as the Messiah coming back to resurrect a nation—to revive it—to save it.

He is also filmed in a much lighter light than others, expressing that Arian quality that he loves. At the closing ceremony, the camera zooms back to view the audience and Hitler up on stage, emitting a shining light that was almost too bright to look at, relating him back to the Messiah figure.

During the first parade after Hitler arrived, the camera cut to children, all different kinds of people, including a cat to show the support of all the different walks of live Hitler received, including animals. The camera is always at a lower angle to make him appear larger than life and god-like; whereas, the crowds are filmed at low angles to make them look like peons! Also, the shadows of the people marching were shown before actually seeing the soldiers or people. This serves to demonstrate that the people will always be in the shadow of Hitler while he ruled?

A lot of cameras were used during this documentary, and it is evident through the many diverse shots Riefenstahl has.