Germany | 2008 | Directed by Dennis Gansel
Logline: When a high school teacher uses an unorthodox social experiment to demonstrate autocracy to his class, the students embrace the order of unity with a fervor that soon spirals out of control.
I remember reading the novel by Todd Strassers (written under the pseudonym Morton Rhue) when I was a teenager and found it utterly compelling. It was based on a true incident that happened in an American high school in California in 1967. The book was subsequently developed into a short teleplay in 1981. It’s unusual for an American production to be remade by foreigners (nearly always vice versa), but Die Welle is a superb movie.
Mr. Wegner’s (Jurgen Vogel) students are a little arrogant. When he mentions fascism they roll their eyes muttering about the boring Nazi regime. It’s school’s project week so Wegner concocts what he foresees will be a clever class experiment to invigorate the students: have them all create an order (The Wave) with its own uniform, salute and a united purpose. Most of the students quickly adopt the concept, especially troubled, militant-loving Tim (Frederick Lau). However Karo (Jennifer Ulrich) refuses to become involved and as she watches The Wave build she sets about organising a resistence, but it’s too late.
This is drama as demonstration and it succeeds in its disquieting task with maximum efficiency. It’s not the most cinematic in visual terms, more like a movie-for-television, but the performances are all very strong and the central themes and plotting are solidly fascinating and compelling. I loved the simple, but brilliant salute.
There’s no question as soon as The Wave’s crest begins to form that there is tragedy afoot. It is irony at its most devastating, the only question is; who will come out the other side unscathed? Wegner soon finds himself in confrontation with his partner (who also teaches at the school), yet he is idolized by some of the students who see the project as a brilliant form of character building.
The dark truths that begin to emerge from something as powerful and volatile as a dictatorship, even if it is only on a microcosmic scale, are initially masked from the students. When vandalism and violence begins to rear their ugly heads Wegner realises he just might’ve created a monster. And it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole damn bunch.
Die Welle reminded me of another razor-sharp German movie with a strong under-current of social commentary that dealt with power and conformity, chaos and disorder: The Edukators. It also used irony and tragedy to nail home the futility of its characters’ rebel behaviour. Curiously, the movie is currently in American remake territory.
Unlike the real incident Die Welle ends abruptly with tattered pieces, but yet a vivid denouement has taken place and there is an undeniable sense of dramatic satisfaction, the last frozen image of an expression of shock and horror lingers on as the enormity of this very plausible situation sinks in. If anything Die Welle is a modern wake-up call to those who believe autocracy can still work successfully in a world of such psychological precariousness.
TRAILER:
Die Welle (The Wave) DVD is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks!
This looks fascinating. I’ll check it out. I saw The Edukators which was intense.
Natalina, Germans are intense, period.
Now this sounds right up my alley. I love these themes and Germans are magnificent storytellers.
Cheryl, fascinating stuff this. And yes, the Germans sure know how to spin a yarn. How good is The Lives of Others in its storytelling!