A Film Canon

Triumph Of The Will exemplifies the "creative art of modern political propaganda" as envisaged by Goebbels, translating fascist fantasy directly into cinematic language. Riefenstahl superimposes a Nazi topography over that of Nuremberg, site of the 34th NSDAP Rally, reviving the rustic, communal Germany for which Party members were so nostalgic, and removing any trace of anachronism from the moment at which local farmers, dressed in traditional garb, present the harvest to Hitler. This construes every ceremonial space as a variation on the Gothic cathedral - especially the Party Hall, replete with its own pews, liturgical instruments, altar and clergy, as well as Albert Speer's "cathedral of light", which, contrary to photographic and newsreel traditions, is shot from the inside; an ethereal, communal ambience, rather than a discrete collection of spotlights. Hence Hitler's elevation to a sublime object; or, rather, the sense that every object is a mere extrapolation of the hand raised in 'heil', as is the cinematography and composition, respectively predicated on low shots and diagonal sight-lines, both of which evoke a steady, upward gaze. Yet Riefenstahl simultaneously equates the camera with Hitler's own, pervasive eye - often quite literally, such as in her use of it to assist his otherwise unrealistic 'inspections' of thousands of men - or, more accurately, separates the real and imaginary Hitler, such that the totalitarian remains sublime even to himself, as reflected back in the mirror of his devoted subjects. From this perspective, the pervasive upward glance is simply a method for approximating Hitler's own, itself trained on a utopian Germany that even he can't yet fully articulate. This may explain why his staged, hysterical abstractions are ultimately less powerful than his silence, and his voice less compelling than his eye - clearest at the memorial service for President von Hindenburg, where it reduces the largest crowd in the flm to the geometrical elegance of the swastika, whose particular presence in this scene is ultimately indistinguishable from that of Hitler himself.