Based on an American teen novel, this German, adult movie follows a high school class during project week, when their Autocracy lesson gets out of hand. Rubbishing the idea of another Nazi Germany, the students are manipulated by their teacher, Mr. Wenger (Jürgen Vogel), into adopting a dress code and a new set of values which leads the class to discover that fascism is all too easy to set in motion...
brilliant...
Would this film have such an emotional undercurrent if it was not German made? I doubt it. Germany's painful history, and its people's struggles to assimilate it with the modern day, are an explosive catalyst to the plot of The Wave. And because of the history of fascism, the resultant fallout is all the more scary. I found the film enthralling from beginning to end, and although I'd associate 'thrillers' with action and special effects, The Wave proves that a relatively simple domestic classroom drama can be just as thrilling. The class is full of recognisable types, the hippy chick who stands up to the Wave and won't conform, the bullies who rail against it initially and then don't want to be left out, and the popular, hot jock (Max Riemelt) who can see that all will not end well. And then there's Tim, who's all too open to the power of suggestion and becomes far too enmeshed in the narrative of the Wave. Posing challenging questions - although the students are defacing property outside of class, their school work improves - about the power of the individual versus the mob, The Wave is a masterful piece of filmmaking, with a style and soundtrack that only increases the feeling of growing menance and lack of control.
briefly...
A powerful premise thrillingly executed, The Wave will be a film I'll revisit in the future.
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