It has taken me awhile to write a post about this film. I pretty much forgot about it until I was checking my “to do list” and I realized I had not yet done a post. Oops. I think we chose to watch this film in part because of Lipton’s logic example in class when he stated that God oversees Germany, Hitler oversees Germany, therefore Hitler is God in a talk about how propaganda works. This film really reflects those thoughts actually.
Producer Leni Riefenstah really plays up the symbolism. You do not need to understand German to understand what this film is saying. It begins with the camera motion in descent from somewhere above the clouds. I was aware that it was being shot from a plane, but you do not see the plane. I do not think I even heard the plane. To me it very much symbolized a descent from heaven with that descent enabling Hitler to oversee Germany.
The Nazi flag was everywhere and I mean everywhere. On churches, homes, office buildings, lamp posts, you name it the flag was there. Every inch of Germany seemed to be covered in the Nazi flag, which basically showed the kind of control the Nazi Party had over that country when it ruled.
I had not read the PR book, “Toxic Sludge is Good For You” when I watched this film, but I think it is an appropriate title for this movie as well because that is essentially what they are teaching the German people. That “toxic sludge,” in this case the Nazi Party and their teachings, are good for you. The want for racial purity is all over this film. Everyone is white and blond children are always shown in close-ups, especially little girls with blond curls.
I think this documentary film shows exactly how propaganda works, and how symbols work in communicating certain ideas. Smiling and laughing children are shown in conjunction with the Nazi Flag, a homecoming parade for Hitler is lined with an excited crowd trying to push and shove its way a little more onto the parade route so that they might be able to touch Hitler; churches are adorned with Nazi flags, and flags are adorned with the cross. God, Church and Hitler, what more is there is to say?
Watching this film left me emotionally disgusted, partially because of what the Nazi Party stood for and partly because at times the movie “worked.” I do not mean to suggest that I suddenly developed a taste for Nazism. But, if I am honest with myself, and that is what I am being right now, there were times in this film when I could feel the patriotism. For example, in the opening sequence of the descent, the music that was played was happy, thrilling, but it was also a march in order to give it an air of authority. That affected me. I felt happy even though I did not want to feel happy. The music pumped through my veins and into my heart and I could even feel a foot start stomping. I stopped it. And, I am not even German. It certainly taught me how effective music is in developing mood. For all that the pictures said, the music said more. Maybe that was why I waited so long to post this…
Tags: Communications, film, media, opinion
