Documentary Movie Reviews

(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)



Triumph des Willens (1935)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 2/09

TriumphWill
2/09: No question, Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) provides a rare insight into Nazi Germany at the height of its nationalism.

It's a powerful documentary. The parades are overwhelming and neverending. So is the sea of swastika flags. Thousands and thousands of Germans throw their arms up in the air just to salute one person and the leader of it all: Adolf Hitler. Quite a spectacle is the Nazi architecture which were probably envisioned by Albert Speer.

It's also fascinating for numerous people associated with the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party. Some scenes are brilliantly shot with one of them breathtaking which is the funeral of the Field Marshall Hindenberg. Yet I find the whole display mindless. It's the same thing over and over. Sometimes, I've longed for color, some kind of variation. Still, the documentary is an historical piece of work.

All in all, Leni Riefenstahl was the D.W. Griffith of documentary filmmakers, deserving her rightful place in the history of cinema.