Religion
It has often been said that there was something occultish about the way in which Hitler presented both himself and the Third Reich, and also the way in which his followers devoured his words as if he was in some ways feeding their spirit. Triumph of the Will is an example of the way in which politics in Germany became a religion. Throughout the movie there are images taken from Christianity intended to appeal to and resonate with an audience who were primarily Christian, in the hope the they might be persuaded to draw some kind of similarity between the two.
At the start of the film, Hitler is portrayed in a god-like manner, coming down from the sky, amidst the peel of church bells and with high ranking religious figures standing with the most prominent Nazis. This church imagery comes full circle at the end of the film when the last parade of the rally is in front of the Church of Our Lady.
Hitler portrays himself in the film with Messianic qualities, and gives the impression that he has been sent to "save" the Germans who have been living in a kind of political purgatory since the end of World War One. He is shown captivating his followers; the shot of him moving through thousands of assembled troops as their ranks part in front of him also has connotations of Moses parting the Red Sea in order to lead his followers forward to the promised land. It is a new Germany - a new promised land - that Hitler is offering. The theme is intentional, and part of the propaganda that is being produced.
Unity of the State
Hitler demands unity. He uses it as a theme for his dictatorship and so it is also a key theme in the film. He states openly that to be a loyal German is to be a member of the Nazi party. The implicit, un-said caveat to that is that if you do not want to become a member of the Nazi party then you are not a loyal German and are therefore, by definition, an enemy. Man essentially wants to be a part of something and so in this way, by propagandizing the theme of unity, Reifenstahl was able to show that unity was a good thing that would lead to the success of the country.
In every scene in the film there is an image of unity; the prominent Nazis stand together, with no in-fighting or visible division in their ranks. The Bishop stands with them, showing a unity between church and state. The army camps signify unity, and the marching is in unison; it is impossible to discern one man from the next. Hitler also uses the children in the Hitler Youth to expound on the theme of unity, warning them that if they want to see unity in the future then they must be examples of it now.
Hitler's Power
Since the end of World War One, Germany had not shown any images of itself as a military power. At the end of the war, when they surrendered, they were no longer a power, and this is how many Germans had begun to think about their country. The film highlights the fact that Hitler became so powerful within the party, and the country, because he ignited that spark of national pride that had been missing, and promised a war-mongering nation that they would be powerful again, basically promising that power for him would equal power for them, and for Germany
One of the ways in which his power is emphasized is the fact that he is constantly shown getting out of an aeroplane. In the 1930s only the very top echelon of Germans flew, but Hitler flew often and made a public show of this, emphasizing that he was the cream of the crop and that will this success there must surely be power. He also constantly issued veiled threats to those listening to his speeches; with every reference to the Night of the Long Knives, he was reminding the crowd, and the prominent Nazis on the dais with him, that if he could arrange Rohm's murder, there was nothing preventing him from doing the same to them if they offered opposition to his plans for the nation.
