"Triumph of the Will: Notes on Documentary and Spectacle"

Steve Neale's article looks at the idea that Triumph of the Will is notable in which it is seen as visually dazzling, but also as Nazi propaganda. He states, "It derives from a juxtaposition of a series of related conceptions of film, -documentary and propaganda, a juxtaposition which is not in fact explicitly made or explicitly recognized by the critiques of Triumph of the Will but one which, once it is made, generates a number of interesting and important contradictions, centring in particular on notions about the relationship between documentary, cinema, and vision." Neale's ideas delve into the film in ways that people have often separated. Triumph of the Will may be seen as a disturbing film for some people, but the way in which it combines, as Neale says, documentary, cinema, and vision, provides an unforgettable experience. Neale goes through some of the film's sequences, but the sequence of Hitler entering the stadium proves Neale's ideas to be truly insightful. The scene is visually breathtaking, especially because of the scope of what we are seeing. The filled stadium stands to pay respect to Hitler. We may be seeing propaganda, but we are also seeing a cinematic vision that many would not be able to achieve. Each shot of the scene, like the entire film, is planned out perfectly. We are shown strategically placed shots of the people, Hitler, and the Nazi swastika. The film has meaning for many because of the way in which is combines of of the characteristics described by Neale into one film. We may be seeing something that looks like a documentary, but everything is done exactly how Riefenstahl, the director, planned it. He takes advantage of the many shots he has to choose from, like high angle shots of the soldiers. He does this to make the film look even more spectacular in a way that may look like propaganda, but also invokes a sense of what cinema meant to the filmmaker because of the way he has created his vision.