Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Triumph of The Will - Period 1

Please post your thoughts about the film The Triumph of The Will. What would you consider to be the most important point or message of the film? Comment on one other student's post. Mr. Gallagher

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that most important point of the film was the portrayal of Hitler laying the foundation for a new nation. He assures them that this new nation is a nation of one group of people that are all the same and no one else can control them. He targeted the children by making them feel powerful and responsible so that they would take their role in the new nation seriously and do as Hitler tells them to do. He also tried to be more personable whenever he would visit German cities and towns in order to get more people to like him. The Triumph of the Will was the only film I have seen to this day that shows Hitler’s full speeches and I couldn’t believe that he memorizes all his speeches, and in turn it makes his speeches so much more powerful. He also ensures so much security and safety for the German people and he receives trust from them so he has total control.

Anonymous said...

The Triumph of Will delineated the influence of propaganda in how Hitler came to power. The most important aspect of this film is Hitler’s ability to adhere crowds of people to his own beliefs through the power of his speeches. One specific scene I remember, Hitler walking down the aisle to make a speech was separated by perfectly aligned formations of Nazi soldiers. The formations of his soldiers made a powerful impact on the German people, depicting the organization and devotion to the soldiers had to their state. His speeches made his followers have religious like revelations, where they caught on to his every word. Therefore, when he announced the Nuremberg rules and other laws that denounced Jewish people, the Germans didn’t take in the meaning and evil of the laws because they were too mesmerized by the delivery of his speeches.

Anonymous said...

I think the most important part of this film was how much everyone was engaged to Hitler's Speeches and how trully he made them by acting up. I did not know he memorized his speeches since this film and we got to see a lot of his speeches and I can know understand how the German people belived him so much. What I still don't understand is how could Hitler be talking about great times if the world were in an economic crisis and that includes Germany.

Anonymous said...

I think that the most important point or message in the film was to show how Hitler was able to stand as a strong leader and engage his listeners. Hitler’s memorizing of his speeches allowed him to use his body language to engage the audience. It shows that Hitler can walk into a Hitler youth march and preach about being selfless and everyone will listen. Hitler’s speeches entail him talking about everyone being one and in reality in the German society that they were all the same person. He tells them that they should think and speak the German ways and that disrespecting these ways is ultimately disrespecting yourself. Each person in the crowd believed Hitler’s speeches and no one ever doubted a word he said. The crowds were in awe and mesmerized by every word Hitler said which made them overlook the underlying meaning and thoughts in what he said.

Anonymous said...

Like Lizzy this was the first full length speech that I have ever seen of Hitler as well and I agree when she says that his memorizing of the speeches makes them more powerful. This power makes the people feel more safe and secure in their environment and they put all of their trust into what Hitler says and does.

Anonymous said...

I think the most important part of this film; Triumph of the Will was that all the Nazi's and German women and children follow whatever Hitler did and say. No matter what they Heiled him and his speeches. He did not use notecards, he memorized all of his speeches and spoke with force emphasizing his message. I think that is what made him the most powerful. Especially since the country needed a leader that could speak that way to the country.

Anonymous said...

Like Amanda said, I agree with the fact that since Hitler memorized his speeches it allowed him to use all his body language to get to the audience. It makes everyone listen to him more and what he had to say. He was focused on the audience more than what he was saying. Which shows how much he wanted to get his point across.

Anonymous said...

The film The Triumph of the Will showed Hitler’s rise to power and his building of his Germany. A Germany controlled and under the rule of the Nazi's. The most important point made in the film was the sheer power of Hitler. He captivated the German public no matter the age. Women fainted and wept in his presence, small children saluted him with no parental instigation to do so, and not to mention the exceedingly large size of his Hitler Youth Movement. The Nazi's and the rest of the German population where in the palm of Hitler's hand and there blind faith in there leader allowed him to grow his power to the greatest of levels. The loyalty to Hitler shown in A Triumph of the Will by the German people shows how captivating he was with his powerful speeches and dreams of expansion.

-Austin E

Anonymous said...

I agree with Amanda’s comments about Hitler’s abilities as a strong and influential leader. The way he was able to stand before hundreds of thousands of people with no teleprompter or anything to read from and captivate all in attendance is incredible. His strength as a leader and speaker, as Amanda said, is one of the most important points the film makes. The crowds of the Hitler Youth and other large assemblies not only admired their leader but also were so in awe of him that they were prepared to listen to everything he preached to them. Hitler knew he could control the German people with his words and he used this edge to his advantage all through his reign.


-Austin E

Anonymous said...

I found this film very interesting. It showed how Hitler was able to convince an entire nation that his ideals were right. I think that the most important thing that the film showed was Hitlers speeches. After watching him speak, reading what he was saying, and listening to how he was saying things i feel like i have a better understanding of how he was able to do what he did. He talked with such power and authority that it would be very hard to disregard what he was saying as a German citizen. The promises that he made would all seem incredible to the poor and hungry German people.

After reading other people posts i feel that most of you took the fact that he memorized his speeches to be more important than it really is. It seems like you just took something the Mr. Gallagher said and basically copied it word for word.

Marufa said...

I thought the most important point made in the film was how much the German citizens admired Hitler at the time. Every time Hitler stood up to make a speech or made a visit to a town, you could see a smile on every individual's face; you could tell that they were happy to see Hitler. This shows how much of an effect Hitler had on the German people, because of his leadership abilities, speech abilities, and confidence.

Marufa said...

Although a lot of people mentioned Hitler's speech abilities, I agree with Molly's the best, especially her last sentence when she said that the German people were "too mesmerized by the delivery of his speeches" so they didn't recognize the evil behind his speeches. And that is exactly right because what the German people were looking for was a strong leader with great confidence because Germany just went through a devastating time after the first World War.

Anonymous said...

I think that the most important point of the film was Hitler's ability to gain the love of millions, while he had such a horrific plan. Here was a man that had devized this plan to exterminate millions of people because of their religion, and hundreds of thousands of people lined the the run way at the airport and the streets of Nuremburg just to see him. On top of that he also managed to get the love of young children and teens, like the little girl and the Hitler youth.The video just shows the magnitude of his power that he had over the people of Germany, which explains why he was able to carry out the extermination of jews.

SD&JH said...

I think the most important point of the film is that Hitler knew how to please the people of Germany. The film starts out with him getting off of the airplane. Immediately there are people cheering for him. They already love him. The thing that makes it better is the way he accepts their cheers. He waves very modestly at the crowds and the look on his face is one of pride. Almost like he feels he doesn't deserve it. That makes people want to show their love even more. When imagining a dictator, you usually think of someone who is very commanding and stern. Hitler avoided that.

SD&JH said...

I also agree with what some of you said about the youth groups. They were a prime target because their minds could be changed easily, and they would grow up with Hitler's lessons in mind. The point was to get them to use these lessons even without a leader telling them too. The attitudes of the whole country were changed.

Anonymous said...

What I'd consider to be the most important point or message of the film is how powerful and influential Hitler's speeches actually were. Hitler knew exactly what the people of Germany wanted to hear and made it all more convincing by the way he delivered his speeches. It's no wonder why he was so successful in gaining Germany's support. As Molly said, Germans didn't take in the meaning and evil of the laws because they were too mesmerized by the delivery of his speeches.

- Ilsi D.

Anonymous said...

I think the most important part about this film was how Hitler was able to convince, influence, impress, and be a role model for so many German youth. This film finally made me understand why he had such an impact. The tone and emotion in his voice and his body language made his speeches so much more powerful. To see so many people go so crazy over one man's speech was just shocking and amazing.

I agree with Lizzy that Hitler was laying a new foundation for a new nation. It is what Germany needed and, through his speeches, it is what Hitler offered in an extremely powerful way. This was also my first time ever seeing a full speech of Hitler's and it was amazingly powerful and was very impressively portrayed to be possibly one of the most influential and powerful speeches ever given to such a large audience.

Anonymous said...

I think that the most important point of this scene of The Triumph of the Will is how Hitler's speeches could captivate the German people. Hitler was one of the few politicians to give speeches without teleprompters, and in his speeches he was able to convey the message that Germany was an invincible nation that rose from nothing and that the German people were self-sacrificing people who made Germany so powerful. I already knew before watching this film that at the time that hitler was giving these speeches, the rest of the world was in the Great Depression, so since Hitler was able to speak about the wealth and employment Germany had gained since he came to power, the message of Germany's strength was conveyed to the German people and Hitler was able to gain massive support at these speeches.

Andy H.

Anonymous said...

I agree with what Lizzy said. Hitler was definitely portrayed in Germany as being the foundation of a new nation and that Germany would be impossible to control by other nations. I feel that with his speeches, Hitler definitely influenced the public by conveying his portrayal of himself, the German nation, and the German people. I also agree that since Hitler memorized his speeches instead of using a teleprompter, he was able to make his speech even more powerful, adding to the strong influence he already had on Germany to begin with.

Andy H.

Anonymous said...

I was quite amazed by the film "The Triumph of Will". It was interesting to see how loyal and dedicated people were to Hitler. Little kids who are barely even old enough to know anything were saluting Hitler because they have been brainwashed so much by parents to acknowledge this man. Everyone has been so brainwashed in Germany to believe that Hitler is off to do good. Hitlers speeches in general were powerful in that everyone ate up every word he said and to this day he remains one of the most powerful speakers in history.

Anonymous said...

I agree wit Lizzy in that one of the most important aspects was the laying down the foundation of a new nation. He used the Youth to his advantage.

Anonymous said...

I think that the most important point in the film is that it shows how the Nazi party gave the people what they needed, jobs, money, food. Because of that they were able to gain so many loyal followers. And on top of the great depression happening every place else, the jobs that the Nazi party provided made the rest of the world look at them as doing something right.
-Taylor E.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Alex, that it was amazing that such little kids were allready loyal followers of Hitler. There was so much propaganda and Nazi influence that it was part of the culture and society so they picked it up and lived by it. It's also almost scary to think that they will most likely think like that for the rest of their lives because that's the way they grew up.
-Taylor E.

Anonymous said...

I was surprised to hear in one of Hitler's speeches that he hoped to form a "peace-loving" German nation. The way he describes this seemed to act as a justification for their true intentions. The most importer point of the film was that Hitler wanted each Aryan to feel responsibility for the formation of a purely Aryan society. I agree with Joey in that the ideals in his speeches were appealing to the struggling citizens. The Nazi's believed that by supporting them, you are helping the Aryan race, and ultimately yourself.