MovieChat Forums > Triumph des Willens (1935) Discussion > I'd Have Joined - But!

I'd Have Joined - But!

posted 8 years ago by davidsmith666999
4 replies | jump to latest

If I were living in Germany in 1934 and saw this, I'd join the Nazi party.

It's an incredible piece of filmmaking.

Of course knowing that many of these people were the epitome of evil makes it all the more chilling. We know what Hitler became. But, this is all so normal. The massive amount of love and loyalty to Satan incarnate is mind numbing.

I don't know much about the Reich's timeline. Were the Jews already being round up in 1934?

[–] anne-536 8 years ago

But for the name Hitler, I thought you might be talking about Obama.

[–] rothoehler 8 years ago

I don't know much about the Reich's timeline. Were the Jews already being round up in 1934?

Hitler was always very antisemitic, he expressed his views long before he gained power (e. g. in his book "Mein Kampf"). But he and the Nazi Government kept a low profile in the beginning. Hardships for jews increased as the grip of the Goverment on the people grew faster. In Nov. 9. 1938 the "Reichskristallnacht" (look it up) was a important pivot point, marking the beginning of real persecution.
Leni Riefenstahl was in Hollywood on promotion tour for her Olympia films at the time of these events, and was reportedly shocked by the news, at first denying them, believeing it to be propaganda to ruin the reputation of the Reich, so certainly she could not have foreseen this developement in 1934 (when the rally took place) or 1935 (when the film was published).
The events we know as the "holocaust" - the planned rounding up of jews with the intention to exterminate them (and all jews in Europe) - was officially started at the Wannsee Conference Jan. 20. 1942. Not even the core nazi leaders had somthing like this in mind in the thirties - it was a result of a long and complicated developent of the war and the camp system (a very good first reading: Auschwitz, 1270 to the Present by Robert Jan Van Pelt ).

[–] davidsmith666999 7 years ago

Thank You.

So, let me ask this: Leni Riefenstahl is hated, this film is hated as Nazi propaganda. But, is it really? Isn't it just a film of a political movement? So, why is Riefenstahl and this film so despised? Foresight is one thing. But, by your own answer, no one (including Leni) had the atrocities in mind when this was made. I want to see the wonderful terrible life of LR. But, I don't think it's out on blu ray.

I read the beginning of Mein Kampf. It began as a man who loved his country (I thought of the Republican party as I was reading) and if I remember correctly it was a while before the "Jewish Problem" was even mentioned (I personally thought this type of hatred was gone. But, in 1996 I visited the Anne Frank House and on the back of a statue of Anne on the street a swastika was painted. I was floored). By that point I was bored and stopped reading. He ended up a true honest to god monster. But, he didn't start out that way. IMO it was power and glory (he was voted Time's man of the year) that allowed him to command the despicable atrocities.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 5 years ago

I would not have. This was a long, dull boring film, and Hitler never really SAYS anything. He just mouths mindless
platitudes, vague appeals for loyalty to him and the Reich, and other gobbledygook. If I had been there I would have
thought "WTF is this guy babbling about?"

A rather poor effort imho.

😎