User reviews

This film was well made, but....speeches, marching, speeches, marching, speeches....I didn't know if I should either fall asleep during the film or to stand rigidly straight and utter a few "Seig Heils." While it is absolutely amazing to see just how enthralled the German people were with Hitler and the Nazi Party ideals, the point was made about 15 minutes into the film. I found this film to be dreadfully LONG.

The quality of this film for its time is fantastic and for those reasons alone it is worth a watch. However, it can never be separated from the fact that it is a propaganda movie for arguably the most murderous regime the world has ever seen. The people who made this move, whilst technically talented, were Nazis and supporters of Hitler and his genocidal crimes. It is a piece of history and can not be destroyed. But it should never be watched or admired without it clearly being in the mind of the viewer that those who made and appeared in it were responsible for the deaths of twenty three million people. The movie deserves the lowest possible rating, not for its technical quality, but rather the purpose for which it was made.

Are we just gonna casually gloss over the fact that a film that was intended to promote Nazism has 13,000 reviews and is averaging at 75%??

After watching the first time entirely Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, I wonder why it is considered a major work of cinematic art. It's boring, to me it extremely boring to watch stupid speeches and endless marching and blank facial expressions. The fact that some parts (they are what always displayed when trying to convince how talented Ms. Riefenstahl was ) of the documentary are skillfully filmed, does not save the awfully long, boring whole, and those parts don't last many seconds. Of course, it is propaganda, but I would have thought that the Nazis would have been able to do better. Such trash would have convinced only the true believers. Well, perhaps the Nazis were no longer in 1934 needed better propaganda, but, I wonder, whether the true believers were able to watch the film without felling asleep.

This film is pure propaganda from start to finish. What slays me is that people, and I'm speaking to those of you who call themselves modern art critics, have latched onto the idea that if one critic hails this film as an artistic triumph, then it must be so. However, Steven Bach in his new book, "Leni" puts this film into the perspective that needs to be said. This film is all about propaganda. Look at the way it opens with Hitler landing in the plane (descending from on high, like a god?). Riefenstahl cleverly intercuts shots of people giving the Nazi salute (not even present at the airfield) and cuts "Sieg, heils!" into the background to heighten the importance of Hitler stepping from the plane, pure manipulation. In my mind, the people impressed by this film are swept up in the false bravado Riefenstahl tried to instill in German citizens where the film often opened during Hitler's need to gain popularity for his programs (since it had multiple showings in Germany during his reign).Riefenstahl is on record as being a profound anti-semite. She said of Hollywood, "They are a bunch of Jewish bankers blackmailing everyone to get their way." Let's get one things straight, Leni Riefenstahl and her films are not art, nor did she intend them for anything other than to make her, Leni Riefenstahl, important in the minds of other people. She and Adolf Hitler are the historical trash of the world that needs the least amount of praise, and the most condemnation for the terrible crimes they supported.