In this film Riefenstahl uses a number of effective camera angle shots. This is also one of the first films to use cameras on tracks, in order to move at the speed that Hitler’s car is travelling at. Triumph of the Will suggests Hitler as a form of God, and the Nazi regime his religion.
Schindler’s List was the next film we looked at. Steven Spielberg directed it in 1993. The liquidation of the Krakow ghetto is the scene that we viewed. It shows Jews being moved from their temporary homes, and those who decided to resist the German forces were killed instantaneously. Oskar Schindler is a middle class businessman, who attempts to save as many Jews as he can after he has realised right from wrong.
The scene begins with two men shaving in the same mirror, Schindler and his good friend Goeth. By placing these two at the same mirror doing the same thing, Spielberg portrays that the two men start the day in the same way, but by the end, they both end up with very different thoughts and feelings.
When the liquidation takes place Schindler is wearing a Nazi badge symbolising that he supports them, however continues to employ the Jews to work in his factory, as they are considered as a form of cheap labour. During the liquidation period, Schindler is out riding, when he suddenly observes the revulsion taking place. His principle and morality rouses him and he can begin to tell right from wrong.
Meanwhile his good friend Goeth reads a speech to Nazi soldiers regarding the Liquidation of the ghetto, and shows brutality and power. This is where Spielberg contrasts the two, as having the sense of right and wrong. When Goeth orders a Nazi soldier to kill a Jew, we see the cruelty that lurks inside him, a sadistic type of nature as if he enjoys and gets pleasure out of doing it. The speech that he gives is emotional and nationalistic; this is then contrasted with a Jewish prayer being performed over the speech. This speech is somewhat related to that of Hitler’s in Triumph of the will.
In this film both English and German dialect is used. The German soldiers speak in the language of their mother tongue, which represents the wrongful doings in this scene. The English language is spoken by the Jews representing innocence and naivety.
In this scene we are presented with two different sides of personality, the caring, generous side, and the brutal (represented by the Nazis). Brutality, care and generosity is seen throughout; for example, when a Jewish boy runs away, the guard aims his rifle at him, but his father makes it in time in order to displace the rifle from the hands of the Nazi, who then manages to restore himself and shoots the father. This is an example of the benevolence that the father has for his son; he is willing to risk his own life for him.
Music plays a very important part in this scene, as different types of music is played, emotional music is played when family members are stripped from eachother, and when Schindler sees the girl in the red dress. A very famous piece of music is played by one of the soldiers while the killings are taking place; it is a piece by Mozart, which is a fast and energetic piece, and is rhythmically moves along with the killing of the Jews. Heart-rending music is also played throughout the rest of the scene along with close-ups of the Jews and the fear on their faces, in order to show what they went through in great detail.
This scene presents how powerful the Nazi party was, and the way that they had the power to take life. It also shows what the Jewish people had to go through whilst waiting to be sent off to the concentration camps. The moments where they used to hide under the floorboards in order to escape capture, really illustrates what life could’ve been like if the Nazi regime had continued to carry out such violence all over the world.
Cabaret is a film set in 1931, just before Hitler came to power, and is associated with a night club called the Kit Kat Club, which is situated in Berlin, however the scene that I am looking at takes place outside a tavern in a forest. The scene begins with a close up of an Aryan boy singing on his own in front of a crowd of people sitting calmly on benches. As the song processes, the camera moves down and then we see the Swastika emblem of the Nazis sewn on to his uniform. This concludes that the boy is part of the Hitler youth. The song is called “Tomorrow belongs to me,” and has a military feel to it; it is extremely patriotic as it represents the dawn of a new Germany. After a while, the Swastika emblem is revealed, other members of the Hitler youth begin to sing with the boy. Shortly after, the crowd of people sitting outside the tavern start to join in with the singing. The fact that the other Germans joined in with the singing, shows how easy it is for people to be influenced by the Nazi regime, and how simple it is to take over the world. During the scene there is one man who does not sing with the rest of the crowd, the camera moves closer to him so we can see the dull look on his face. He sits quietly and watches as he probably knows how great the outcome could be if the Nazis were to take a hold on everyone.
The boy who starts singing the song has blond hair and blue eyes, which is an excellent example in order to attract viewers, as he is regarded as a perfect looking child. This scene exhibits Germany’s revival of energy and burst from the downfall of the war. It encompasses a totally mixed crowd, old and young, male and female joining in with the rebirth of Germany and there strive for success in years to come.
The final film I looked at was one of Disney’s Classic feature films, The Lion King. It was made in 1994, and though this is well after when the Triumph of the will was made, the scene we looked at makes a clear indication to some of the things seen in that film.
The scene starts with a close up shot of the hyenas, they are presented as immoral, perplexed and callous. Scar then appears on a rock high up and we can see a high angle shot of him, this refers back to the Triumph of the will, where Hitler is standing on a balcony and giving a speech to the crowd beneath him. The shadow, which is cast when Scar remains in that position on the rock, is much bigger than what he really is and this presents him almost immediately as a very dangerous and malicious character.
In this scene there is a song, which is sung to the hyenas, it is purely about having a better life. As the song progresses there is an immediate increase of hyenas seen in the distance. This shows how fast his power spreads and at how pungent he has become. They march past Scar looking up to him just as the Nazi soldiers did to Hitler.
In Triumph of the Will, Leni Reifenstahl uses many different types of camera shots in order to flaunt the Nazi regime, the way it was so powerful and much loved by many of those who lived in Germany. The film is very propaganda based and is quite effective in putting it’s point across.
In Schindler’s List, Spielberg uses a number of very interesting moments of the scene that are extremely memorable, and includes horrifying clips of the Jews being killed for nothing. This film is portraying totally the opposite of what Triumph of the Will is set out to do, and that is to show the horrors of what the Nazi party is really about. Spielberg being Jewish himself creates this film with a very personal approach, using music to contrast the two races and graphic scenes to show the two different types of people living under the reign of one man.
In my opinion I think that Schindler’s list is the film, which portrays the Nazi regime better as it really isn’t about blond hair and blue eyes but about the sadistic nature of man under the influence of another, and the terror suffered by those who seek no trouble or pleasure for themselves except for to be left alone and to live their own lives. Spielberg uses the clips that we seen to simply edify the truth and he does this positively and lucratively.
