In the last season of the hit show Game of Thrones, viewers finally had what the promo images had been foreshadowing for some time. A dragon-shaped shadow was flying over King’s Landing. While it’s a clever way of implying there’s a dragon flying over a city, we had also seen the image before in the opening sequence of Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl’s semi-documentary of the 1934 Nazi rally. Not of a dragon, of course, but of an airplane flying over the city of Nuremberg, where a three-day rally is about to take place.
Triumph of the Will captured the world’s attention when it was released in 1935, and has since been regarded as groundbreaking and influential, launching Riefenstahl to international fame. She shot three more documentaries that captured 1930’s Germany: Victory of Faith (1933), filmed before Triumph of the Will, Day of Freedom (1935), and Olympia (1938). Naturally, though, after the war, Riefenstahl became a social pariah for having worked so closely with the Nazis.
Riefenstahl denied having been a Nazi, instead arguing she just became entangled in the whole business and that her films were not propaganda pieces, but rather documents of historical events. Her view of how things went down has been hotly debated, and it doesn’t look very good for her. In fact, some sayTriumph of the Will isn’t all that innovative and to say such as thing is a victory of propaganda itself.
Of course, the Nazis would like you to think a Nazi director was a brilliant director. Yet, the much of the film’s success is due to the budget (which was huge), rather than the technique. Either way, it features incredible aerial shots of thousands and thousands of troops, low shots of Hitler giving out speeches, and shots that make the Nazis look epic (not in a good “epic” kind of way, but in a “trying too hard to be epic when it’s really all empty jibber jabber” kind of way).
Riefenstahl did not do much after the war, but her film continues to inspire filmmakers to this day. Whenever a movie deals with issues of totalitarian, authoritative power, they look to imitate some of Riefenstahl’s shots. Here’s a list, explained frame by frame, of movies that have quotedTriumph of the Will. You’ll be surprised by some of them.
Star Wars Episode I: A New Hope
@phuskineOne of the most famous cases of movies “quoting” Riefenstahl is this scene from Star Wars. It recreates the sequence, but adds a positive connotation. It is a scene of victory of the “good guys,” not a portrayal of Fascist authoritarianism.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
@sparkee9
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
This echo of Triumph of the Will definitely wishes to portray these forces as Fascist figures of authority in full. And the same applies to rest of these examples.
The Lord Of The Rings
@jcvack
Game of Thrones
@daneburne
The Lion King
This Youtube video compares sequences from Triumph of the Will with sequences from other movies. Riefenstahl’s influence is undeniable.
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