Earlier this semester our "Introduction to Film" class screened what is considered the greatest and scariest documentary of all time, Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." Shot during the 1934 Nazi Party Rally in the city of Nuremberg, its release in 1935 shook the film world, especially Hollywood, where to this day it is credited with codifying the "cinema of spectacle" and is still influencing films from "Star Wars" to the Batman franchise.
In one scene Riefenstahl uses cameras in cars zipping up and down flagpoles to capture the mind-blowing image of no less than 200,000 jack-booted ready for the battlefield five years before Hitler invaded Poland, triggering the onset of World War II.
The resources devoted to the film's production are staggering even by 21st century standards. Hitler gave Riefenstahl an unlimited budget, SS and SA officers for "crowd control," cameramen dressed as SS and SA officers, four complete sound equipment tracks, over 30 cameras, airplanes, airships and unlimited access to the city of Nuremberg, its citizens and its mint -ondition medieval architecture.
The resulting documentary remains a blueprint for the imagery of totalitarianism and the cult of personality - a “must see” for students ranging from history to political science, sociology, anthropology, communications studies, art, woman's studies, diversity, engineering, architecture, and film, as well as a haunting reminder for all of us of what might have been.
- Rebecca Dean
April 19, 2010
About the Author: Rebecca Dean is a full professor who earned her bachelor's in English and Slavic studies, master's in English and communications, and doctorate in English/cultural studies from the University of Pittsburgh. She came to Northampton Community College twenty years ago and founded what is now the communication studies program. Her passions include film analysis, spoken word, studies in culture, and dogs.
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Posted
Apr 19 2010, 11:17 AM
by
nccfaculty