Top Ten Things Inspired by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will"
"Triumph of the Will" is a Nazi propaganda film from 1935 directed by Leni Riefenstahl. While she repeatedly stated the movie is only a documentary of the Reich party, it is known that Riefenstahl herself actively helped organizing and staging the event.While undeniably evil in ideology, it still is considered one of the most powerful movies of all time in serious movie circles, and even further, one of the most influential movies of all time. It inspired epic films, and imagery and aesthetics have often been copied to visualize both evilness and power.
Several scenes have been re-shot, especially involving the empire. The ceremony in "Episode IV: A New Hope" is almost the same as Hitler's walk to the pedestal.
"Storm Troopers" is a literal translation of "Sturmtruppen".
The visuals during the "Be Prepared" sequence are almost identical to the parades in TOTW.
The music video featuring Kollegah as some kind of dictator (in a Mad Max-style postapocalyotic civilisation) in front of giant banners heavily resembles the party rally decoration.
Joe in front of giant bannees showing a fish logo in the swastika colors red, white and black while being hailed at.
The animated music video features Minaj in front of giant banners similar to the swastika banners while walking through mass of loyal subjects.
Scott uses the same aesthetics to show the power and glory of the Roman Empire than Riefenstahl used to demonstrate the power of Nazi Germany (especially the uses of eagle statues and drummers).
When Floyd becomes some kind of racist dictator, the imagery becomes more like the speeches of the nazi rally.
Sound clips used.
According to several sources, Chaplin based the speech scenes on "Triumph of the Will" (since I know he was a fan of her movie "The Blue Light", it is most likely true). Even though I love Chaplin's important masterpiece, I have to say that I have seen more powerful recreations of TOTW's aesthetics.
The propaganda movie "Stolz der Nation", which is a film in the film, uses some re-shots.