"Actor: Walter Jakob"

• Triumph Of The Will (1934) | DVD | (31/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Triumph of the Will is one of the most important films ever made, not because it documents evil--more watchable examples are being made today. And not as a historical example of blind propaganda--those (much shorter) movies are merely laughable now. No, Riefenstahl's masterpiece--and it is a masterpiece, politics aside--combines the strengths of documentary and propaganda into a single, overwhelmingly powerful visual force. Riefenstahl was hired by the Reich to create an eternal record of the 1934 rally at Nuremberg, and that's exactly what she does. You might not become a Nazi after watching her film, but you will understand too clearly how Germany fell under Hitler's spell. The early crowd scenes remind one of nothing so much as Beatles concert footage (if only their fans were so well behaved!).Like the Fascists it monumentalises, Triumph of the Will overlooks its own weaknesses--at nearly two hours, the speeches tend to drone on, and the repeated visual motifs are a little over-hypnotic, especially for modern viewers. But the occasional iconic vista (banners lining the streets of Nuremberg, Hitler parting a sea of 200,000 party members standing at attention) will electrify anyone into wakefulness. --Grant Balfour, Amazon.com

• The Paranoids | DVD | (25/06/2018) from £5.29   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Luciano Gauna, a wannabe screenwriter reduced to working at children's parties, bumps into his old friend Manuel, who is now a huge success in Spain as star of television series The Paranoids. While out of the country Manuel asks Luciano to help out his beautiful girlfriend Sofia who confides in Luciano that Manuel's successful television character is, in fact, based on Luciano himself. With nowhere to go, Sofia spends the night in Luciano's apartment and she seems to be attracted by the same qualities that Manuel rejects as weaknesses... An award-winning romantic comedy and the first feature film from director Gabriel Medina, The Paranoids (Los Paranoicos) features a memorable performance from Daniel Hendler as the hapless Luciano. A highly personal film for Medina, most of the incidents are based on real events that either happened to himself or his friends.