Regardless of whether the Triumph of the Will is accepted as a mere historical recording of events or as carefully contrived propaganda, the film cannot be properly understood without full knowledge of the historical events occurring before and during the film. Armed with this knowledge, certain sequences take on an added significance within the film, a significance that is not readily apparent to the viewer.

Film critic and director Ulrich Gregor presents an article on The Triumph of the Will stating that it is his private view as well as that of many people of his generation.

War films have often been used as 'flag-waving' propaganda to inspire national pride and morale, and to display the nobility of one's own forces while harshly displaying and criticizing the villainy of the enemy, especially during war or in post-war periods.

One of the most successful propaganda films of all time was Triumph of the Will, which depicts Adolf Hitler’s 1934 Nazi rally in Nuremberg Germany. This film sought to place the viewer in the rally with numerous camera setups that gave a visceral experience of attending such a highly coordinated and staged event.

In presenting a background, an environment, and characters who behave in a certain way, every motion picture may be said to be propaganda. Nazi Germany produced its own brand of propaganda in the 1930s, the most striking being Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens (1936; Triumph of the Will), a terrifying spectacle of a huge Nazi rally that had in effect been staged for the film made about it.

Many of Germany's newspapers cast a detailed eye over the life and career of the controversial film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, who has died at the age of 101.

A brilliant artist driven by fascist ideals and selfish ambition, Leni Riefenstahl was a complex woman composed of contradictions. She was a determined woman, though not a feminist; part of Hitler’s inner circle, though politically unaware; a Nazi propagandist but not a war criminal.