In what ways were Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph Of The Will”(1935) and Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight: Prelude to War”(1942) used as propaganda films during WWll? An in-depth analysis between two of the most momentous propaganda films of the Second World War
Introduction
In 1939, the Second World War ignited when Germany invaded Poland. The war lasted six years and it is certainly one of the most tragic events in human history and as well, very meaningful for the film industry. Propaganda is “Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” During the Second World War, films played a major role as propaganda in Germany as well as in the United States of America. The Nazis were the first to innovate using films as tools for propaganda in order to glorify Hitler Youth and Adolf Hitler himself. Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Paul Joseph Goebbels appointed Leni Riefenstahl as the official film director for the Nazis and she created and directed one of the most impactful propaganda films ever created called Triumph Des Willens or Triumph of the Will which is a documentary made up of all real footage from the annual Nazi Party Congress in 1934. The film is known for outstanding editing and composition of shots done by Leni Riefenstahl. The movie mostly shows Adolf Hitler and the Nazi nation and even includes actual speeches done by the Nazi leader himself even though the film includes no narration whatsoever.
Triumph of The Will was released in 1935 and after its release, three time Oscar winner Frank Capra, who was born in Italy but became a filmmaker in the United States, saw the film and was shocked and amazed by the outstanding work done by Leni Riefenstahl. Capra stated that Triumph of the Will “…fired no gun, dropped no bombs. But as a psychological weapon aimed at destroyed the will to resist, it was just as lethal.” Capra wanted to create a movie that was the direct response to Riefenstahl’s film. He decided to not film anything, but to show the American people German propaganda and use it against them. This is when he releases the movie series Why we Fight in 1942. The film series made up of seven movies were created by Capra with the purpose of uniting the American population and American troops and giving them a reason to fight the war. Triumph of the Will is considered a propagandistic film by many people but others consider it a piece of film art and not a propagandistic film. Capra considered this film a powerful propagandistic tool and therefore reacted by creating the first episode of Why We Fight called Prelude to War as propaganda towards the US population. It is important to analyse the extent to which and how these films were used as propaganda during the second world war because they were the government’s tool for uniting their population during the war and are considered two of the most emblematic propaganda films in history.
Shot Composition
“Through my optimism I naturally prefer and capture the beauty in life.”1 During Leni’s career she preferred to capture the beautiful aspects of life therefore doing the same in Triumph of the Will by capturing the positive characteristics of the Third Reich by the use of camera composition and angles, using close ups and and sequences of extreme close ups to capture emotions. In the movie Triumph of the Will the choice of angles and the election of shots used to portray Hitler and the army is essential in order to transmit a message, the message of glorifying Nazis. Transitions between shots such as cross dissolving are used creatively throughout the films Triumph of The Will and also included in Why We Fight: Prelude to War.
Triumph of the Will starts with a shot from the point of view of a plane cruising through the sky in a really tranquil manner, then, the shadow of the plane is shown below on Germany and subsequently, faces of Nazi supporters are shown on screen, revealing their facial expressions of delight and excitement when they notice the plane. The door opens and Adolf Hitler descends from the aircraft and is appraised by Nazi supporters gathered around the plane thrilled to see the Nazi leader in person. The central theme which they develop is that Hitler has come from the sky to kindle ancient Nuremberg with primal Teutonic fire, to liberate the energy and spirit of the German people through a dynamic new movement with roots deep in their racial consciousness.2 This implies that Hitler is portrayed in a god like figure that has come down from the sky to meet his disciples on Earth. The director illustrates this point by starting the movie by filming the plane in the sky (from birds eye view) then, chronologically, showing the aircraft descending from the sky and afterwards, when the airplane lands, Adolf Hitler stepping out of it and saluting his supporters. After Hitler is introduced in the film, all the events that are showed during the movie is of him here on Earth therefore supporting this stated central theme of the documentary which clearly promotes a point of view. However, this theme can be argued against because Hitler was believed to have anti-christian or atheist ideologies. However, this can be contradicted by Riefenstahl herself in an interview held by Alan Marcus in (…), Leni said “No, he is not a God, he is sitting in a plane, he is flying to Nuremberg… If you go to Nuremberg, you go on a plane. And anyway, he doesn’t have any wings, does he?”.
Triumph of the Will is well known for its transitions between scenes. Leni Riefenstahl had a lot of interesting transitions by fading out a previous scene onto the next one. Transitions between scenes were not random, every scene linked to the next one for a reason. Leni is able to transmit the message of unity through her use of dissolving transitions. She is also able to communicate people’s emotions by the use of close ups or extreme close ups in order for the viewer to sympathize with men, women and kids smiling in the film.
Figure 1.1 00:13:43 Figure 1.2 00:13:53
In figure 1.1 the viewer is able to appreciate a low angle shot of an old German building from the point of view of a person driving down the street which could represents Hitler’s point of view from his car driving down the street after landing in Nuremberg. This shot then transitions into Figure 1.2 by a cross dissolve. In figure 1.2, the shot is a bird’s eye view shot of the nazi army tents perfectly organised on the ground. The perfect symmetry creates a perfect, eye-catching and pleasurable shot for the viewer therefore he is engaged by the composition of shot. The ordered structure of the army tents also imply and compares the way the german troops are prepared for the war and how their country is perfectly structured to fight it. The dissolving takes a long time compared to other transitions between shots throughout the film and at one moment the shot of the old German building and the shot of the well structured army tents are mixed and both present at the same time in the shot. This symbolizes how traditional Germany is being merged with modern Germany and how they are all together in this war. Once again the sense of unity is emphasized.
Figure 1.3 00:04:17 Figure 1.4 00:04:23
In Why We Fight: Prelude to War, Frank Capra utilises the same type of cross dissolve transitions to create unity between two different shots. The feeling of unity is a key aspect of propaganda at that time, the intention of bringing a whole country together with the use of common entertainment such as films. Capra introduces the film by showing images of the disastrous events occurred by the war in countries in Europe such as Greece, Poland, Yugoslavia and Norway. He then follows with a shot that shows American factories producing weapons and heavy machinery. Afterwards, an animation of the map of the United States of America is shown on screen (Figure 1.3) and starts to zoom out while cross dissolving into a high angle shot of American troops marching (Figure 1.4). The slow speed of the cross dissolve is able to portray both shots at the same time for a few seconds, this lets the viewer imply that the United States and its troops are all together in this war, he illustrates unity. The neat structure of the troops marching shot is also pleasant for the viewer and communicates how organised, well structured and unified their troops are. This can be seen as a response to how Leni Riefenstahl portrayed the good organisation of the german troops.
In the movie Triumph of the Will Leni transmitted the message of glorifying Hitler and Nazism by using close ups and extreme close ups of people’s faces like kids, soldiers and women to represent the unity of the people and their leader. She illustrates the enlightenment in people’s faces first when Hitler arrives from the sky in Nuremberg. The director does this by structuring a shot of Hitler saluting the crowd and then a close up to the crowd’s smiling and enthusiastic faces. Throughout the film, Riefenstahl continues to use close ups of Germans’ faces in order to communicate an emotion and the idea that under Hitler’s command, the nation is content. This can be implied at various points in the film, for example, when the soldiers are getting ready and playing with other soldiers. Leni chooses to show the troops’ faces during their “play time” to send the message to the viewer and once again, she captures cheerful emotions, the beauty of life. The inclusion of this scene in the documentary helps to humanize the troops and manages to make them more relatable with the viewer.
In the film, the idea of Hitler coming from the sky and being assimilated to God is reinforced by using angles that only show the top parts of objects and architecture therefore relating them to the sky (see Figure 1.1). Subsequently, the supporters, soldiers and their tents are shot in an angle that does not relate them to the sky, but to the ground (see Figure 1.2); implying that “they are just the word of Hitler made flesh”3.
A key characteristic of Capra’s movie is that he did not film the shots he majorly used. As said before, most of the shots he included in his film were shot by foreign filmmakers which used these shots as propaganda for their own countries, for example, Hitler and Nazi propaganda used in Germany. “Capra takes a unique road in propaganda, which is when he makes it folksy”(Guillermo Del Toro, ). Capra makes his propaganda by mocking the enemies’ powerful leaders who took part in the war and by doing this he creates a way of informing the US population (the viewer) who their enemies are in the war in a more comedic way. Capra chooses shots of the enemy leaders while making speeches in front of masses and at the same time he shows them making eccentric body expressions. By showing the exaggerated expressions, Capra gives it a sense of humor and mockery which is born in the viewer while watching how these leaders act and even how people follow them. This can be seen when Mussolini is giving a speech to the Italians.
Additionally, Capra uses the shots of kids in Prelude to War repetitively. The use of kids in the film evokes a feeling of pity in the viewer when watching kids being summoned into a society of fanaticism and seeing them so devoted to a dictator.6
Image of the Swastika
Throughout the film of Triumph of the Will, the image of the swastika is repeatedly shown on screen. Given the fact that this film is not considered a propagandistic film by Leni Riefenstahl, the frequent inclusion of the swastika should not change this because it was the Second World War and not including the swastika would be a really difficult thing to do since it appeared everywhere in Germany and it is a documentary. However, this can be argued because Leni does not simply show the image of the swastika but uses close ups and cross dissolves as if it is intended to glorify the symbol and transmit Nazism therefore it can be considered propaganda.
Figure 1.5 01:01:12 Figure 1.6 01:01:16
Propagandistic techniques can be seen when the Nazi symbol is shown when the camera pans down the Nazi eagle and swastika from the point of view as if it was the public admiring the monument (Figure 1.5). After this, a dissolve transition is used to link this shot to another of the crowd of soldiers gathered in Hitler’s speech (Figure 1.6). This linkage between the Nazi symbol and German citizens is a clear transmission of a glorifying ideology from Leni Riefenstahl. Also, during the whole film the viewer is able to see a number of shots of the famous symbol, this shot is used in the middle of various close up shots and wide angle ones. The constant use of these shots before and after close ups to people’s faces and masses like the army and then showing Nazi leaders’ faces makes the viewer infer that the director is trying to communicate a feeling of unity of how every german (Nazi leader, german citizen, children, women or soldier) is united by the same symbol and system, Nazism. This therefore gives a sense of propaganda to the documentary.
Low angle shots during speeches, Only showing the upper body of things
Figure 1.7 1:03:24 Figure 1.7 1:03:58
The film Triumph of the Will shows the images of Hitler’s rally in Nuremberg. It is therefore obvious to say that Adolf Hitler is the main character in this documentary as everyone who appears in the film is there to hear his speech. The most powerful person in Germany at that time was certainly Adolf Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl made sure that his level of power was well transmitted in this film. Leni Riefenstahl used a known technique to show power levels in a film which consists in placing the characters higher in the shot than others, this meant that the Fuhrer had to be placed above everyone else to communicate the high level of power he had. In Figure 1.7 the German army is shown in a wide angle shot and the camera is above them, making it clear that they are below something which the director doesn’t show until the next shot. Therefore, the low level of power is reinforced by the switch of shot to Hitler being placed on a stage and looked from below. Him being shown from below and on top of a stage exaggerates the fact that he is the most powerful person in Germany. The exaggeration of this is correctly used by Leni because of the fact that he was actually the most fearsome man in the world, leader of the Second World War.
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Sound (music of both and narration of prelude to war)
Analysis of the narration in prelude to war
Music played by orchestra in Triumph of the will
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Editing and Narrative structure (linear and chronological, effects of the order)
Triumph of the Will follows a strict chronological narrative structure therefore all the events are portrayed in the film in the order they happened in real life just as a real documentary.
Capra’s Why We Fight: Prelude to War has a different combination and selection of shots which constitute the movie, these are videos taken by other countries such as German, Japanese and Italian tapes which were used in their countries as propaganda. However, Capra decided to use these shots against them and not film practically anything himself. Additionally, Capra included animations in Why We Fight: Prelude to War which were made by Disney. In fact, the movie was also produced by Walt Disney. The animations are used to explain the process of the war and the events that led up to it. The use of Disney’s animations helped transmit the war in a more understandable and friendly way which made the viewer, the US population, feel more attracted to participating in the war instead of being afraid of it. Including these animations was a way of uniting US citizens and reaching out to them with a strong topic such as the war in a more neighborly way. This makes it seem more reliable and, as a result, Why We Fight becomes a credible source of information to American soldiers and the general public.4
Conclusion
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