Movie Review: Die Welle ("The Wave") · 11:06pm Sep 25th, 2018
About two weeks ago, my dad and I watched a German film about fascism in a high school.
Die Welle. Or, in English, "The Wave."
Now, before I dive fully into the story of the movie, a little background info for you all:
In 1967, a California high-school history teacher began a social experiment. Said teacher, Ron Jones, found difficulty in explaining to his students how the citizens of Nazi Germany could accept the actions of the regime, in particular the Holocaust. To that end, he ended up starting a social experiment to show them how people could be manipulated, and over the course of a single week created a movement to demonstrate the appeal of fascism to the class. This movement was called "The Third Wave," as a reference to how it was believed that the third wave in a series was the strongest.
Over the course of five days, Jones led the class in a series of exercises meant to promote discipline, and strength through community. He instituted a strict set of rules: students could only address him as "Mr. Jones," had to stand up to ask or answer questions (and keep their answers short)… the Third Wave even had its own salute, where members were required to salute each other even when out of class.
By the third day of the experiment, the group had grown tremendously. Other students from outside the initial class of 30 were recruited into the Third Wave, and by Thursday of that week there were 200 people participating in the movement. Jones realized that the experiment had gone out of his control, and sought to end it. He spread word to his students/followers that there was going to be a rally for the Third Wave, where a presidential candidate for the group would be announced. When they had all arrived, Jones explained to them that they had been swept up in the same of superiority that had driven the Nazis, and that the Third Wave was over. He ended it by showing a film about the Nazi regime to conclude the experiment.
Years later, The Third Wave was adapted into a TV movie in 1981, along with a novel.
In 2008, director Dennis Gansel took the concept, dramatized it from the original, and transplanted it to a modern German classroom.
This is the story of Die Welle…
High-school history teacher Rainer Wenger (played by Jurgen Vogel) is assigned to teach a class on autocracy, despite his hope to teach on anarchism. Deciding to give it his best effort, he goes in, and discovers that most of the class signed up only because Wenger - a popular and well-liked teacher - is leading it, not because of any actual interest in the subject. Most of the students are apathetic about discussing autocracy and openly state that a dictatorship like the Third Reich could never happen in Germany again.
Intrigued, Wenger begins a movement to demonstrate to the class how easily the masses can be manipulated. He rearranges the seating of the class, putting all the desks in neat rows, and seating students with poor grades next to students with good grades; so, ostensibly, so they can learn from each other and become better as a whole. Students initially allowed to address Wenger by his first name, are now to address Rainer solely as "Herr Wenger," and must stand up in order to ask questions or give answers. On the second day, uniforms are instated (a white shirt) to further promote unity.
Some students protest the turn that the class is taking. One of them, Mona (Amelie Kiefer) leaves the group in short order, feeling that the group is already removing individuality and becoming fascist. Another student, Kevin, leaves because he refuses to play along - then later he rejoins the class, because his friends are still part of the group and he loses status with them for not being part of them.
Another girl, Karo (Jennifer Ulrich) at first supports the group, but when she decides not to wear the uniform and is swiftly ostracized and ignored for it, leaves the project and joins Mona.
However, the majority of the class are excited to be part of this group, and take to it with enthusiasm. School bully Bomber (Maximilian Vollmar) mends his ways with the unity of "Die Welle", and even comes up with the salute for members. Athletes Marco (Max Riemault) and Sinan (Elyas M'Barek) become more efficient players, working together to great effect.
And the class loner/oddball, Tim (played by Frederick Lau) takes to the group with the utmost commitment, feeling like he's finally found a place where he has purpose, friends and belonging...
(Keep that bit in mind, it's very important down the road...)
Through it all, Wenger is delighted with the progress of the experiment. The students are active and involved, and they're fully invested in him and his lesson. However, his wife Anke (Christiane Paul) is less than happy with what he's doing, feeling that his "class project" is growing out of control and changing her husband...
And events soon start to prove her right. For one, members of "Die Welle" get more and more aggressive about recruiting, downright bullying students who refuse to join. And for another, after a party, several students in the group go around town and tag various stores, buildings (even a church!) with a logo for the movement!
Tensions build between members of Wenger's group, and with Karo, who they see as a traitor for leaving the group and trying to spoil their project.
So much so, that her and Mona's tossing out flyers at a sports event attended by "Die Welle" ends up sparking violence... and leads Wenger to realize that he's created something truly dangerous.
It all leads up to a climax that is incredibly powerful, effective... and an absolutely brutal emotional gut-punch.
Seriously, the ending moments of the movie are genuinely wrenching to watch... and also feel uncomfortably prescient of many current events as well. 
Die Welle is a very cleverly made movie, in many ways. Many shots of the movie (particularly with the teenagers and their antics, be it partying or tagging the town) are filmed in ways clearly evocative of teen movies and music videos. The latter is particular clever, as the energetic feeling of the whole tagging sequence perfectly captures the fun that the teens are having: it both demonstrates how, despite their participation in a fascist movement, that they're still teenagers... and that also shows how dangerous their "group project" has become, how quickly they have taken their own initiative in spreading their message.
Another aspect of the film's construction that is quite clever is its use of color, and shadow. As said before, the students of Wenger's class adopt a white shirt as their movement's uniform, so the film uses the color white (and green, the other major color in the classroom) to good effect, as it makes the students who don't join (Karo, Mona, and any others) stand out, marking them as "other" to the members of "Die Welle." Shadows and darkness are also used to highly suspenseful effect in some nighttime scenes - in particular a sequence where Karo puts out flyers denouncing Die Welle. The darkened hallways, plus Karo's own anxiety, swiftly create a genuinely tense atmosphere, and even though the audience may know that she is in no danger of being jumped by her classmates (who are off partying), you certainly feel her sense of tension and fear.
There are some aspects of the film that do date it. I couldn't help but snicker at a part of the movie where one of Wenger's students eagerly suggests making a Myspace page for Die Welle. And some of the teen characters can feel stereotypical, or even worse, extraneous to the film. There are a few bits with some characters (class clown Ferdi, Karo's friend Lisa) that can feel somewhat superfluous, or not completely followed up on, but many of the actors for the students do a good job with what they are given. In particular, the actor for Marco has a strong emotional moment when he realizes that his participation in Die Welle has made him do some bad things...
Although, if I had to pick one actor whose performance I was blown away by, it'd definitely be Jurgen Vogel as Rainer Wenger. His portrayal of the charming, charismatic teacher Rainer is so effective because you can totally see WHY students would listen to him, and why they'd follow him... and therefore, how Rainer himself (an anarchist and good guy) can end up seduced by fascism. The last moments of the film, focusing on Wenger's realization of all that has happened, is a powerful, haunting moment.
Die Welle is by no means a happy film, or one that's easy to watch. But it is quite the memorable experience, and one that I very much appreciated.
Speaking of someone who has actually seen this movie, yeah I agree with everything you say here. You did a good job on summing it up and discussing the feelings one would have about it.
4943791
I must say, I'm glad to know someone else who's seen the movie!
Oh, thank you.
4943792 Yeah, I saw it years ago when it was on Netflix, I enjoyed it.
4943793
Ah, yes. ^_^ Good old Netflix. My dad's a faithful customer of theirs, even though he devoutly clings to renting disks instead of streaming or digital viewing.