ET 4: Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will

          DW Griffith and Leni Riefenstahl were such amazing directors that changed the course of history and future of film. Birth of a Nation was THE film that started all films, a big budgeted movie that not only served as a platform for all film makers but also in terms of the technology used and Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl which showed, in my view, wonderful craftsmanship through how she angled the camera and how the whole thing was put together- from the stadium built to the rallies that occurred.

         As stated, Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will are two known propaganda movies, each in it’s own way. If we look at it through a Realism perspective, the excerpts from Birth of a Nation basically showed a story of how the white minority was helpless in the hands of the crazy black people, and the heroes- The Ku Klux Klan came just in time to rescue them. This of course is the description in its simplest manner, but DW Griffith depicted it in a way that glorified the KKK, through music and the way he edited the sequence to be like. Even through the music, one can feel the glorification; he used the type of music that stirred people’s emotions, music that had a tempo as Rey said, the type of music in one of those superhero movies. Not only that, he made it more powerful and strong through the images he shot, such as the helpless woman being tied up by the black people, and the helpless white family looking terrified as the blacks started attacking, and then came the image of  a parade of KKK heroes coming in on horses to save the day. In Triumph of the Will, the movie was basically about Hitler and how he was deemed a God by all the citizens and it was said that this movie was a documentary when in actual fact it wasn’t. The first 5 minutes of the film, showed the non diagetic elements such as when the film occurred, which was after WW1 and I did some research on Germany after WW1, and it helped me understand the meaning of the film to a certain extent. The Germans were forced to bear the humongous cost of the war and because of that, the people of Germany were impoverished, and not only did the economy crumble, but more importantly the spirit of the people crumbled as well. Coming to think of it, Hitler may have thought that by communism and by finding someone to blame- Jews, it would have united the people of Germany. The film began with him descending from the clouds, giving the symbolization of God. We get a birds eye view of the city of  Nuremberg and clouds, and the aeroplane, and then as he landed, we saw the swarm of hundreds of people waiting for him, stretching out their hands towards him as if they had just witnessed their Saviour. The music that accompanied the entire sequence was soothing, calming, like an orchestra. In my view, the whole sequence probably signified the beginning of a revolution, coming straight from the very man who started it all. Speaking of the structure of the film, one part of Birth of a Nation that I remember so clearly, was the sequence where there was cross cutting multiple times- showing the woman being tied up- then the KKK riding on the horses, and again and again repeatedly gave this effect of how they were about to save them from danger. The structure I found interesting in Triumph of the Will, was when Hitler was giving his empowering speech, and there were so many reaction shots shown repeatedly, first at Hitler, then at the generals and people around him and it continues in that pattern.

            When we talk about the two films being melodramatic, it bears such truth in it. In a way, it feels like I’m watching the typical superhero vs villain movie. Right at the beginning, we can see who are the good and who are the bad ones.  I noticed that in Birth of a Nation, DW Griffith used a lot of words/phrases to describe the blacks and the whites such as crazed negros, and helpless whites. That in itself already depicts some sort of melodramatic effect on the audience watching. Even the scenes where they showed the KKK coming on their horses, that was the CLEAREST sign of who was depicted as the good guy and who the bad. In sequences where the blacks were stopping the whites from voting and everytime they showed this phrase –THE WHTE MINORITIES-, and not forgetting the sequence where the blacks were uncivilized during an important meeting by eating, drinking, taking off their shoes, all of this came off as elements needed to create the melodramatic effect. In Triumph of the Will, it was shown in another way, as the director never showed anyone else besides Hitler, and those who supported him. She never showed the Jews, or someone besides the Aryans or anyone that was unhappy and against the whole Nazi movement. So, in a way, the villain in my perspective, is everyone who was against Hitler, and that Hitler was the savior.

       Propaganda! I must say that I have never viewed any film that has been so obviously used as a tool of propaganda before, that, or I’ve never actually analyzed and thought about what I was watching before. I actually have a lot to say about Birth of a Nation but I’ll be cutting it short;

So much was done in order to change and influence the mindsets of the audience and I found it pretty hypocritical for DW Griffith to state that everything was historically true when he changed a huge portion into something so obviously fake. The way he depicted black people in such a manner, how he showed them to be greedy, rude, disgusting and of lower social class to a certain extent is appalling. Political impact through the actions of how the blacks would stop the whites from voting could change the perception of the audience to be against the blacks from ever voting, and sequences such as when interracial marriages were legalized, the camera shot so many reaction shots that gave such bad impressions to the black people- such as the terrified looks of the whites and the somewhat ‘horny’ looks on the black men. This impacts society in a way that people go against and are prejudiced against any marriage out of race, thus giving birth to racism. There was a scene where the words ‘AN INSPIRATION’ came up and this was when the founder of the Ku Klux Klan noticed black children being afraid of ghosts and decided to form the KKK. Children were depicted as monsters and bullies and this also acts as an element of propaganda, fuelling racism to its highest. In Triumph of the Will, I would say that the sequence that screamed propaganda was the part where Hitler gave his speech in front of hundreds of people. It was a powerful speech, and he gave such energy and it was as if he was instructing the people instead of giving a speech. There were times where the camera shot him from below(low angle shot) and he seemed bigger and there were times where it shot him from the point of view of the audience and even at eye level.  Reaction shots of people nodding, agreeing also acted as a way of showing the political and social agreement of all the people towards Hitler’s plan.

       Overall, these were two AMAZING shows and caught my attention throughout the film.