Watching Triumph of the Will today is a heavy, strange experience

Is this for you?

If you are looking for a casual movie night, absolutely not. This is a cold, calculated piece of propaganda that feels like staring directly into a furnace. If you are a student of film history or someone interested in how mass media can be weaponized, you will find it fascinating, but you will likely hate the way it makes you feel while watching it.

There is no traditional story here. It is just endless rows of men, flags, and people cheering until their throats must be raw. It is technically impressive, which is the part that makes your skin crawl. You can tell Riefenstahl spent weeks setting up these shots.

The way the camera glides over the crowd, it feels almost like a sports broadcast. Except, instead of a game, it is the systematic erasure of individuality. Watching it reminds me a bit of the heavy, dark atmosphere you find in M, though the intentions are worlds apart.

Oddly specific details

• The sheer amount of dust kicked up by marching boots is distracting.
• Some of the reactions from the crowd look genuinely rehearsed, like they were told exactly when to start smiling.
• The shadow play in the night sequences is haunting. It is effective, which is annoying.

There is a segment involving a plane flying over the city that goes on way too long. It is like an early version of a drone shot, but the novelty wears off after about thirty seconds. Then you are just staring at rooftops for a minute straight. It feels like dead air.

It is strange to compare this to lighter, narrative-driven fare like Ida regénye, but you realize how much power a lens has. In other films, a camera captures life. Here, the camera creates a reality that never existed before. It is a terrifying magic trick.

You can almost feel the movie trying to convince you that this moment matters more than anything else in human history. It is suffocating. By the time it wraps up, you just want to turn off the TV and walk outside to breathe some real air.

It is not a pleasant watch. It is just… there. Looming. 🎥