Die Welle (The Wave) (2008)

As part of our film studies class, the second film we watched was the German socio-political movie “The Wave”. This German 2008 movie deals with many issues, especially regarding the sector of politics, which I believe is very interesting and I believe that this makes the film very captivating, as well as showing a lot of character development as we progress through the film.

The film revolves around Rainer Wegner, a secondary school history teacher who is a very ambitious and diligent person. He is frustrated when the Principal of the school lets him know that he will be teaching the autocracy module, rather than the anarchy one he had hoped on. As the film progresses, he gets heavily intrigued by the idea of anarchy, and starts to form an over-the-top bond with his students. He delivers his lessons in a way that keeps the students interested and they often contribute too as they enjoy the topic because of “Herr Wegner”. As part of a social experiment, Herr Wegner asks all his students to dress in the same attire as everyone else for the rest of the week; to unite the class group, white shirt and jeans. While initially being attracted to the idea, Karo and Mona decide to rebel against the class as they feel Herr Wegner is taking the idea of autocracy to the most extreme level there is. They believe that the class is embracing fascism and they believe that history (the time of fascism in Germany during World War 2) is repeating itself in front of their very own eyes. However, this does not break the class in any way shape or form, but instead rather unites them even further. Towards the end of the film, the event that takes place changes the lives of many forever!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film as I feel it genuinely kept me on the edge of my seat at all times. I also praise the unpredictability of this film as you truly just don’t know how everything will turn out as well as the film not following the traditional ‘happy-ending’ approach. I would certainly recommend this film to family and friends and I would give it an overall rating of four stars! :)