Also known as
Triumph des Willens
Lists
- ranked 253 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 262 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- ranked 265 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of Guardian 1,000 films to see before you die
Leni Riefenstahl's chronicle of the 1934 Nazi Reichsparteitag is magnificent -- horrifying, too, but undeniably magnificent. The cinematography is impressive, but most of the credit belongs to Albert Speer, the one responsible for the design of it. Those spectacular scenes of uncountable flags and uniforms would be impressive even in the hands of Uwe Boll.
The marches and speeches aren't that interesting in their own right, but they're perversely satisfying, both as a monument to history -- My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings... -- and as a lesson in chauvinism.