The Wave (2008)

Such a frustrating disappointment

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

A teacher begins a group on the concept of Autocracy and goes about (innocently) getting his students to conform.Things get out of hand, in a very predictable fashion.Essentially belonging to a group can be delightful, yet castigating and ignoring outsiders has it's drawbacks. Well done indeed.The fact that this is German lends some credence but this feels like it relies far too much on the subjects (and possibly the audience too) being teenagers, as it really feels like a lot of teenagers acting like teenagers -- one of the initial group drops out simply because the 'uniform' doesn't suit her -- and the many expected graffiti and partying scenes get annoying very quickly.The concept is still largely unbelievable in a modern world, and the script does little to convince otherwise.

"Die Welle" is a 100-minute movie from 7 years ago. It was written and directed by Dennis Gansel, who adapted an American short story for this one. Gansel is trying to become a known name in America in the next couple years and we will see if his attempt becomes more successful than the ones of Henckel von Donnersmarck and Uli Edel. This movie here features some of Germany's most established actors (Vogel, Paul, Kroymann) and some of Germany's biggest rising stars (Riemelt, Lau, Ulrich, Matschenz, M'Barek). Max Riemelt is a regular in Gansel's movies as well. Lau won a Best Supporting Actor German Film Award for his portrayal here. I believe that, even if his characters are not too different most of the time, he is a pretty talented actor and there will be certainly a lot more to see from him in the future."Die Welle" is a great example of an actually creative approach to putting the German Nazi past on the screen. There are so many movies out there that deal with the topic and are all basically the same, but this one here is a refreshingly different way of coming to terms with our past. Well done. It is not perfect by any means, but very watchable for almost the entire movie. I personally felt that the final scene at the auditorium was a bit too showy for my taste and it is certainly very different from the 1981 45-minute version and much more in your face. Also, I was not particularly wowed by the scenes with Paul and Vogel. The scenes with the kids were just better and more interesting except the escalation scene during the water polo game, in which the violence did not feel too credible. And Ulrich's character turned a bit too much into a second Sophie Scholl as the film went on. A bit of a shame as the movie's take on freedom pf press and opinion was a good one. A bit more subtlety would not have hurt this film. However, I really liked the final shot with Vogel in the police car. The screenplay is mostly fine from start to finish and Vogel and Lau give pretty good performances. Vogel's character is also very interesting. He did not get enough approval from his teaching colleagues, but the kids love him. He is a bit of an outsider as well and that is why he enjoyed all the appreciation and kept pouring oil into the fire not realizing the intensity of the flames he was creating. This film is certainly worth a watch. It was the most successful German movie in cinemas here in the year 2008, made even more money than the Oscar nominee "The Baader Meinhof Complex".

Die Welle is the movie style that makes us think about issues that sometimes we think is obvious, but they are not, and need a more striking proof to be obvious.The German film has all its modern photography, of a European city fully globalization, which all citizens believes to be stabilized, but its way of thinking becomes influential for problematic questions, which we could never imagine they could become real again.A brilliant film, which at first, knowing only the synopsis, it is difficult to imagine how the rest of the film will be, and little by little, starts being increasingly surprising until its surprising and sad end.The film makes clear how the fascist and dictatorial governments are failures, unjust and devastating. Everyone should watch this nice movie !

In order to make a week-long school project more interesting, Rainer(Vogel, a former anarchist) teaches autocracy via full immersion. He makes everyone part of it – one designs their symbol, another their website, etc. It starts out small. Standing when you speak in class, no chit-chat, etc. Over time, however, the movement of The Wave picks up speed, and things go further than anticipated.The characterizations(and only a few lack a fully realized arc) are strong, and through this, we can see the effects of the fascism on different people. Some are troublemakers, some a little too good in class, not everyone wants to go along, and the various interpersonal relationships and students' status will be either strained or strengthened. History does indeed repeat itself, if we are not aware of the signs – put on display here. Even a small liberal community, today, with all the awareness and knowledge. Something is lacking, perhaps common values.This gives compelling exploration of conformity, uniformity, rules, following leader and groups(in- and out-), among others. Everyone is a human being, there is no black and white. The alternate rock soundtrack, cutting and hand-held cinematography highlights and renders contagious the youthful energy of Die Welle itself. We are swept up as well, and the tension rises to its inevitable crescendo. Without credits this is 97 minutes long, with them it's 103.The 2-Disc DVD comes with 83 minutes of interesting extras: 23 and a half minutes of good deleted/extended scenes(clearly removed purely for pacing), a well-made 22 minute making of, 17 and a half minutes of cast/crew interviews, a 6 and a half minute alternate ending, 6 minutes of funny, at times hilarious, outtakes, a 4 minute music video Empty Trash, 3 and a half minute class visit, 2 minute concert video Digitalism, 1 and a half minutes with Ron Jones(who did the original experiment that this is based upon), and half a minute of storyboard-to-film comparison.There is a lot of disturbing and some violent content in this. I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone interested in psychology, philosophy and/or history. 8/10