Having just completed a module on fascism, the exam on which was my last EVER at university, I understand (albeit a) a minute amount about the topic and could raise numerous historians (Kevin Passmore as an example) that follow an argument somewhat similar to the idea behind the film. I believe it to be a worthwhile(ish) issue to raise though the very definition of what exactly autocracy can mean is somewhat questionable.
German films have a certain style to them that marks them away from a lot of Western cinema, and I very much like the driving force behind the film. However, I'm not a huge fan of the execution. Die Welle originated as a highly popular and widely read novel in Germany before it worked its way to the big screen and I’m very eager to read the originating text having seen the film
In the film, however, the story runs as a somewhat shallow exploration of the whole concept of fascism and dictatorship, lacking in both the complexity that could be warranted to the German experience and an integrity that makes the piece worth what it's exploring. Herr Rainer, a teacher at a German college, is entrusted to teach autocracy and, rather than taking usual approaches, chooses to take a practical angle to get the concept across making his class a movement called ‘The Wave’.
If you've got any basic form of knowledge on fascism or autocracy, the film somewhat runs as you'd expect it to. The students become over enthusiastic and divulge in their new social experiment to an unhealthy extent; at the end we have a typically moral message as to the nature of movements like this.
The problem with the film lies in its simplicity; it attempts to explore such a complicated and potent issue with narrow interpretations by some actors, and far too little development thematically. The crux of the story takes hold far too quickly, and the actions of these students make very little effect in their setting. I’m not a huge fan of the script; both superficial and uninspiring, and the whole film fails to address how exactly movements like this become popular, concentrating instead on what happens when they take hold (which most people are much more aware of than the origins of public support).
Feeling somewhat lazy as it is nearly three am (and saturated with a two litre bottle of Pear Cider) I shan’t explore more than this, but I would suggest it a film to watch. It isn’t fantastic; it’s well shot (as German cinema often is), but a very shallow piece that completely overrides its potential to become an important piece of popular media. The very concept is so loaded and the ending (disregarding the final few minutes of utter tripe) adds a particular potency to the underlying process. If we could only rid of the actual film and keep the basic line of the story, this piece would be an utterly fantastic work (though I fear ridding of the entire film somewhat misses the very point of, indeed, a film?).
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