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The Wave (german: Die Welle) is a 2008 German
socio-political Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how ...
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
thriller film directed by
Dennis Gansel Dennis Gansel (born 4 October 1973) is a German film director, writer and actor . Life and career Gansel was born in 1973 in Hannover, West Germany, where he graduated from high school in 1993. Gansel worked in the festivals for film and televi ...
and starring
Jürgen Vogel Jürgen Peter Vogel (; born 29 April 1968, in Hamburg) is a German actor, screenwriter, film producer and singer. One of the most successful character actors in German cinema, he first broke out in 1992 with his role in ''Little Sharks''.Jürgen ...
,
Frederick Lau Frederick Lau (born 17 August 1989) is a German actor. Biography He grew up and still lives in Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name ...
,
Jennifer Ulrich Jennifer Ulrich (born 18 October 1984) is a German actress who has starred in such films as '' The Wave'' and '' We Are The Night''. She was born in Lichtenberg, Berlin. Career Jennifer Ulrich started her actress career with ''Big Girls Don't ...
and
Max Riemelt Max Riemelt (born 7 January 1984) is a German actor, known internationally for playing Wolfgang Bogdanow in the Netflix series ''Sense8''. In Germany, he is known for many years of television and cinema both acting and directing. Career Rieme ...
in the leads. It is based on Ron Jones'
social experiment A social experiment is a type of Psychology, psychological or Sociology, sociological research for testing people's reactions to certain situations or events. The experiment depends on a particular social approach where the main source of inform ...
The Third Wave and Todd Strasser's novel '' The Wave''. The film was produced by
Christian Becker Christian Becker (born 1972, Krefeld) is a Germans, German film producer. He is the co-owner of Rat Pack Filmproduktion together with German major studio Constantin Film. Biography After working in the film business for many years, he enrolled a ...
for
Rat Pack Filmproduktion Rat Pack Filmproduktion GmbH is a German film production company owned by Constantin Film. History Rat Pack Filmproduktion GmbH was founded by Christian Becker with Anita Schneider, Jürgen Egger, Alexander Rümelin, Catarina Raacke and Constanti ...
. The movie was successful in German cinemas, and 2.3 million people watched it in the first ten weeks after its release.


Plot

A history teacher, Rainer Wenger, is forced to teach a class on
autocracy Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
, despite being an
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
and wanting to teach the class on anarchy. When his students, the third generation after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, do not believe that a dictatorship could be established in modern Germany, he starts an experiment to demonstrate how easily the masses can be manipulated. He begins by demanding that all students address him as "Herr Wenger", as opposed to Rainer, and places students with poor grades beside students with good grades — purportedly so they can learn from one another and become better as a whole. When speaking, they must stand and give short, direct answers. Wenger shows his students the effect of marching together in the same rhythm, motivating them by suggesting that they are superior to the anarchy class, which is below them. Wenger suggests a uniform of a white shirt and jeans, to remove class distinction and further unite the group. A student in the class named Mona argues it will remove individuality, but she is dismissed. Another student in the class named Karo shows up to class without the uniform and is ostracized. The students decide among themselves they need a name, deciding on "Die Welle" (The Wave). Karo suggests another name, but she is the only person in the class who votes for it. The group is shown to grow closer together, and former bullies Sinan and Bomber are shown to reform, protecting Tim, the class outcast, from a pair of anarchists demanding he sell them drugs. Sinan also creates a distinctive logo for the group, while Bomber creates a salute. Tim becomes very attached to the group, having finally become an accepted member of a social group. He burns all of his brand-name clothes, after a discussion about how large corporations do not take responsibility for their actions. Karo and Mona protest the actions of the group, and Mona, disgusted with how her classmates are embracing
fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
, leaves the project group. Her other classmates do not see the connection with fascism and continue attending the class. The members of The Wave begin spray-painting their logo around town at night, having parties where only Wave members are allowed to attend, and ostracizing and tormenting anyone not in their group. When Tim and his group of new friends are confronted by a group of angry punks (including those that Tim faced previously), Tim pulls a
Walther PP The Walther PP (german: Polizeipistole, or police pistol) series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols, developed by the German arms manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen. It features an exposed hammer, a traditional double-ac ...
pistol, causing them to back down. Tim explains to his shocked friends that the pistol only fires blanks. Tim later shows up at Wenger's house, offering to be his bodyguard. Although he declines his offer, Wenger still invites Tim in for dinner; this puts further strain on his already tense relationship with his wife, Anke, who thinks his experiment has gone too far. Wenger finally asks Tim to leave his house, only to find the next morning that Tim had slept outside on his doorstep. Anke, upset upon learning this, tells Wenger to stop the experiment immediately. Wenger accuses her of being jealous and insults her dependency on pills. Shocked, Anke leaves him, saying the Wave has made him into a terrible person. Karo continues her opposition to the Wave, earning the anger of many in the group, who ask her boyfriend, Marco, to do something about it. A water polo competition is due to happen later that day, and Wenger asks the Wave to show up in support of the team. Karo and Mona, denied entry to the competition by members of The Wave, sneak in another way in order to distribute anti-Wave fliers. Members of the Wave notice this and scramble to retrieve the papers before anybody reads them. In the chaos, Sinan starts a fight with an opposing team member, the two almost drowning each other. Members of the Wave in the stands begin to violently shove one another. After the match, Marco confronts Karo and accuses her of causing the fight. She replies that the Wave has brainwashed him completely. He slaps Karo, causing her to get a nosebleed. Unsettled by his own behaviour, Marco approaches Wenger and asks him to stop the project. Wenger seemingly agrees and calls a rally for the Wave members for the following day in the school's auditorium. Once in the rally, Wenger has the doors locked and begins whipping the students into a fervour. When Marco protests, Wenger calls him a traitor and orders the students to bring him to the stage for punishment. However, Wenger turns out to have been acting and was using this meeting to test the students and to see how extreme the Wave has become. Wenger declares that he is disbanding the Wave, but Dennis argues that they should try to salvage the good parts of the movement. Wenger points out there is no way to remove the negative elements of fascism. Seeing the movement falling apart right in front of his very eyes, Tim suffers a mental breakdown and pulls out a gun, refusing to accept the Wave is over as he does not want to lose all that he's gained. When Bomber says the gun only fires blanks and tries to take it, Tim shoots him, revealing it has live rounds. When Tim asks why he shouldn't shoot Wenger too, Wenger says that without him, there would be no one to lead the Wave and it would just die anyway. Utterly consumed by despair, Tim abruptly shoots himself in the head, preferring to commit suicide than go on living without the movement. Horrified, Wenger cradles his corpse and looks on helplessly at how his own vanity and foolishness have resulted in his whole class being scarred for the rest of their lives. The film ends with Wenger being arrested by the police and driven away, Bomber being taken away to the hospital, and Marco and Karo being re-united; the final shot shows Wenger in the back of a police car, staring blankly into the camera, a look of distress on his face.


Cast

*
Jürgen Vogel Jürgen Peter Vogel (; born 29 April 1968, in Hamburg) is a German actor, screenwriter, film producer and singer. One of the most successful character actors in German cinema, he first broke out in 1992 with his role in ''Little Sharks''.Jürgen ...
as Rainer Wenger, the main character and teacher who started the experiment with his class. *
Frederick Lau Frederick Lau (born 17 August 1989) is a German actor. Biography He grew up and still lives in Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name ...
as Tim, an insecure and mentally unstable boy having problems with his family. At the beginning of the film he is pictured as a
drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by ...
until ''The Wave'' project starts. Then he becomes a committed member and finds new friends. *
Max Riemelt Max Riemelt (born 7 January 1984) is a German actor, known internationally for playing Wolfgang Bogdanow in the Netflix series ''Sense8''. In Germany, he is known for many years of television and cinema both acting and directing. Career Rieme ...
as Marco, a strong boy, who plays in Wenger's
water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
team. He is Karo's boyfriend. *
Jennifer Ulrich Jennifer Ulrich (born 18 October 1984) is a German actress who has starred in such films as '' The Wave'' and '' We Are The Night''. She was born in Lichtenberg, Berlin. Career Jennifer Ulrich started her actress career with ''Big Girls Don't ...
as Karo, a diligent and intelligent student. She protests against ''The Wave'' and because of this, she has intense rows with Marco and her friends. * Cristina do Rego as Lisa, a shy girl who becomes more self-confident thanks to ''The Wave''. She is best friends with Karo, but later they have an argument when Karo protests against ''The Wave''. *
Christiane Paul Christiane Paul (; born 8 March 1974 in Berlin-Pankow) is a German film, television and stage actress. Paul first worked as a model for magazines such as ''Bravo''. She was 17 when she obtained her first leading role in the film '. Prior to he ...
as Anke Wenger, the wife of Rainer who teaches in the same school but leaves him after seeing how much damage ''The Wave'' is effecting both the school and their students. *
Elyas M'Barek Elyas M'Barek (born 29 May 1982) is an Austrian actor based in Germany. He gained recognition for his roles in the comedy television series ''Türkisch für Anfänger'' and the 2013 comedy film ''Fack ju Göhte.'' Early life M'Barek was born ...
as Sinan, a student of Turkish descent and member of the water-polo team. He is Bomber's best friend. Elyas M'Barek had earlier appeared in Gansel's film
Mädchen, Mädchen ''Mädchen, Mädchen'' (English: ''Girls, Girls''), also known as ''Girls on Top'', is a 2001 German film directed by Dennis Gansel. Its story is about an eighteen-year-old girl named Inken (Diana Amft), who is frustrated at not having had an or ...
. * Maximilian Vollmar as Bomber, a bully who reforms thanks to ''The Wave'' and befriends Tim. *
Maximilian Mauff Maximilian "Max" Mauff (born 3 July 1987) is a German actor. Life and career Mauff started acting in the child theatre. Later he had first roles in short movies by Aelrun Goette. In 2002 he had his first leading role as ''Tristan'' in Kai Wes ...
as Kevin, an upper-class student who clashes with ''The Wave'' at first until he joins the group for social reasons as he loses his status. *
Jacob Matschenz Jacob Matschenz (born 1984, Berlin) is a German actor. He is notable for film and television work including '' The Wave'' (2008), ''12 Paces Without a Head'' (2009) and ''The Sinking of the Laconia'' (2010). He won the Adolf Grimme Award The ...
as Dennis, a student who comes from the GDR. He becomes a member of ''The Wave'', like most of his classmates. * Ferdinand Schmidt-Modrow as Ferdi * Tim Oliver Schultz as Jens * Amelie Kiefer as Mona * Odine Johne as Maja * Fabian Preger as Kaschi *
Tino Mewes Tino Mewes (born 5 April 1983) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than fifty films since 2002. Filmography References External links * 1983 births Living people German male film actors {{Germany-actor-stub ...
as Schädel * Maxwell Richter as Anarchist *
Liv Lisa Fries Liv Lisa Fries (born 31 October 1990) is a German actress who has appeared in several films and who gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', which first premiered in 2017. ...
as Laura *
Alexander Held Gerald Alexander Held (born 19 October 1958) is a German actor. He is internationally best known for his historical depictions, as Walther Hewel in the 2004 film ''Der Untergang'', Robert Mohr in the 2005 film '' Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage ...
as Tim's father *
Johanna Gastdorf Johanna Gastdorf (born 1959) is a German actress. She has appeared in more than 100 films and television shows since 1993. Filmography References External links * 1959 births Living people German film actresses Actresses from Hambur ...
as Tim's mother *
Dennis Gansel Dennis Gansel (born 4 October 1973) is a German film director, writer and actor . Life and career Gansel was born in 1973 in Hannover, West Germany, where he graduated from high school in 1993. Gansel worked in the festivals for film and televi ...
as Martin *
Maren Kroymann Maren Kroymann (; born 19 July 1949) is a German actress, comedian and singer. Career Kroymann was born in Walsrode. She studied English, Roman studies, and American studies at University of Tübingen. After spending time in Paris and the U ...
as Dr. Kohlhage


Background

The Wave is not the only movie to convert a social experiment conducted in the United States into a fictionalized plot. The
Stanford prison experiment The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a psychological experiment conducted in the summer of 1971. It was a two-week simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulati ...
of 1971 was adapted for the 2001 production ''
Das Experiment ''Das Experiment'' (English: ''The Experiment'') is a 2001 German drama thriller film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. It is based on Mario Giordano's novel ''Black Box'' and deals with a social experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Sta ...
'' by Oliver Hirschbiegel, and the 2015 production directed by
Kyle Patrick Alvarez Kyle Patrick Alvarez (born 1983) is an American film director and screenwriter. Early life and education Alvarez was born in Miami, and attended the University of Miami. Career His first film, ''Easier with Practice'', was based on a ''GQ'' arti ...
, ''
The Stanford Prison Experiment The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a psychological experiment conducted in the summer of 1971. It was a two-week simulation of a prison environment that examined the effects of situational variables on participants' reactions and behav ...
''. Gansel's Wave is based on teacher Ron Jones's "Third Wave" experiment, which took place at a Californian school in 1967. Because his students did not understand how something like
national socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
could even happen, he founded a
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
, strictly-organized "movement" with harsh punishments that was led by him autocratically. The intricate sense of community led to a wave of enthusiasm not only from his own students, but also from students from other classes who joined the program later. Jones later admitted to having enjoyed having his students as followers. To eliminate the upcoming momentum, Jones aborted the project on the fifth day and showed the students the parallels towards the Nazi youth movements.Christa Hanetseder: ''Lehrer gegen Vorurteile. Zwei Experimente mit unerwarteter Dynamik'' In: ''ph akzente'' Nr. 4/2008, S. 16Irene Jung: ''Keiner kann sagen, er hätte von nichts gewusst''. In: ''Hamburger Abendblatt'', 10. März 2008, S. 3 In 1976, Jones published a narrative based on those experiences titled " The Third Wave", which was made into a television movie of the same title in 1981. In the same year, author Todd Strasser, writing under the pen-name "Morton Rhue", published his book "The Wave" (a novelization of the television movie), which was published in Germany in 1984 and has since enjoyed great success as a school literature text. It has sold a total of over 2.5 million copies.Ina Hochreuther: ''Die Schule und die Diktatur'' In: ''Stuttgarter Zeitung'', 13. März 2008, S. 32 Furthermore, the 1981 movie is available at almost all public media centers.Ekkehard Knörrer: ''Der Mensch ist eben auch nur eine Ratte im Labor'' In: ''taz'', 12. März 2008, S. 15 The story has also influenced many plays and role plays worldwide. The
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
is based on an article written by Ron Jones in which he talks about the experiment and how he remembers it. The rights to the story which belonged to
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
were given over to Dennis Gansel for the production of a German movie.Dennis Gansel im Gespräch mit dem ''Hamburger Abendblatt'', 10. März 2008, S. 3: ''„An den psychologischen Mechanismen hat sich nichts geändert“'' As a consequence, Todd Strasser, whose novel popularized the material in Germany, and the publisher Ravensburg, did not receive direct revenues from the film project.Daniel Kothenschulte: ''Der freie Wille'' In: ''Frankfurter Rundschau'', 13. März 2008, S. 33 Gansel was working on the book for one year until he asked
Peter Thorwarth Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
to join him as a co-author. The screenplay moves the experiment, which was carried out in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in the 1960s, to present day Germany. The specific location is never mentioned explicitly as it stands for
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as a whole. Gansel explained that he did not intend to reenact Jones’ experiment, but rather show how it would be carried out in present-day Germany. He said the movie is not an adaption and that he changed characters, dialogues as well as the beginning and ending of the movie. This also includes subsidiary aspects such as the
football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...
which was turned into a water polo team in the German version whose coach, as opposed to the original, is the teacher himself. The major difference, however, concerns the physical violence and the bloody end which became part of the movie. Nonetheless, Gansel claimed in an interview that it was extremely important to him to ensure that his movie would not differ as much from the experiment as Strasser's book. Thereby he described Jones, who supported the film project as a counselor, as a "living certificate" of authenticity and that the ending was inspired by the
Emsdetten school shooting The Emsdetten school shooting was a school shooting that occurred at the Geschwister Scholl-Schule in Emsdetten, Germany on 20 November 2006. Eighteen-year-old former student Sebastian Bosse shot and wounded five people and set off several smoke ...
. He claimed that Jones does not like the way the characters in Strasser's novel are depicted.Dennis Gansel im Gespräch mit ''Cinema'', Nr. 4/2008, S. 36 The former teacher commented that Gansel's movie gave an "incredibly convincing" account of the actual experiment. According to Gansel, representatives of the
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n film-funding agency which were initially inquired to fund the film project declined because they compared it to Strasser's novel. Furthermore, they criticized that the teacher lacked a clear anti-authoritarian position in the submitted script. The entire project was jeopardized and the first film-funding agency to grant financial aid was the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. Afterwards, the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) as well as other co-producers decided to subsidize the project.
Constantin Film The Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of pr ...
also became one of the sponsors and further managed the film's distribution. The overall budget of the movie amounts to 4.5 million euros and the movie was shot within 38 days.


Themes and Concepts


Gansel’s concept

According to
Dennis Gansel Dennis Gansel (born 4 October 1973) is a German film director, writer and actor . Life and career Gansel was born in 1973 in Hannover, West Germany, where he graduated from high school in 1993. Gansel worked in the festivals for film and televi ...
, German students have grown tired of the topic concerning the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Gansel himself had felt an oversaturation during his schooldays and had developed an emotional connection to this chapter of German history only after watching the film ''
Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
''. One difference between the experiment conducted at the time in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and today's
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
he saw in the fact that the American students had asked themselves quite horrified how there could even exist something like the
concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
. His film, however, was made on the premise that people felt immune to the possibility of a repetition of history as a result of the intensive study of
National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
and its mechanisms. “Therein lies the great danger. It is an interesting fact that we always believe that what happens to others would never happen to us. We blame others, for example the less educated or the
East Germans East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
etc. However, in the Third Reich the house caretaker was just as fascinated by the movement as was the intellectual.”Dennis Gansel im Gespräch mit ''Der Standard'', 11. Februar 2008, S. 28: ''Faschismus ist für alle anziehend'' The small town the movie is set in is prosperous and does not show any salient social or economic problems and the teacher practices a liberal lifestyle. Gansel is convinced that the plot gains a broader psychological validity by the choice of such a location. “Everyone thinks they would have been
Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...
s and
Sophie Scholl Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of high treason after having been f ...
s in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. In my opinion this is complete nonsense. I would say that biographies of resistance rather originate in coincidences,” claims Gansel. He then explains that, for example, Karo's political awareness and opposition arise out of vanity: she does not like the white shirt.Dennis Gansel im Gespräch mit den ''Stuttgarter Nachrichten'', 10. März 2008, S. 12: ''„Widerstandsbiografien entstehen aus Zufällen“'' In the past Gansel had been sure that he would have been part of the resistance but while working on The Wave he realized how “non-politically” the conversion of people took place. He remarks that every human being has the need for belonging to a group. He says he does not believe that films are capable of having a greater political impact on the viewers and that a film can only influence people who were already sensitized to the topic presented. In his opinion films can at best stimulate discussions, but to be able to do that they have to be really entertaining. “In Germany there has always existed the great misunderstanding that politics in the world of cinema were synonymous with boredom,” says Gansel. He claims that in between high-brow cinema, as films by Christian Petzold, and the entertaining comedies by
Til Schweiger Tilman Valentin Schweiger (; born 19 December 1963) is a German actor, voice actor and filmmaker. He runs his own production company, Barefoot Films, in Berlin. Early life Schweiger was born in Freiburg, West Germany, to two teachers. He grew ...
there was a vast gap in Germany, which urgently had to be filled. He made the film in a way that should have a “seductive effect” on the viewers to make them interested in The Wave and by doing so show the powerful attraction such a movement can have. He chose Jürgen Vogel as the leading actor because he wanted someone he himself would have liked to have as a teacher, for Vogel brought with him real life experience and a certain kind of authority. In Gansel's own schooldays it had been these kind of teachers whom he had trusted the most. Gansel, whose grandfather had been a Wehrmacht officer, also announced that this film would be the first and last one concerning the topic of the Third Reich in his career as a director.


Formal realisation

Teacher Wenger's casual manner at the beginning of the film contributes to the expectation of a
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
.Ulrich Steller: Kapitel ''Filmische Mittel'' in: ''Die Welle. Materialien für den Unterricht.'' Hrsg. von Vera Conrad, München 2008. Abrufbar auf de
offiziellen Seite des Filmverleihs
Maximilian Probst:
Macht durch Handeln!
' In: ''Die Zeit'', 13. März 2008
Reviewers have noted a similarity to American films that deal with competent teachers who evoke the capability of disadvantaged students, such as ''
Dead Poets Society ''Dead Poets Society'' is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Robin Williams. Set in 1959 at the fictional elite conservative boarding school Welton Academy, it tells the story of an English t ...
''Tobias Kniebe:
Der Faschist in uns
'' In: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', 12. März 2008
or U.S. high school films that assign a particular adolescent type to every character. Gansel focuses less on mental
motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
processes of the individual characters but rather on the resulting sense of community.Harald Pauli: ''Lass den Nazi raus!'' In: ''Focus'', 10. März 2008, S. 68 His script co-author Thorwarth emphasized that it is necessary to define the characters very clearly in order to retain the common thread despite the variety. The film is structured by five days of the project week. At this, the beginning of every new day of the week is marked by an insert. The narrative style doesn't keep the audience at distance, so that it can reflect on the things that happened, but rather lets them experience the occurrences; so the plot is narrated linearly. Similar experiences of various characters, for instance, scenes in which students tell their parents about their day at school, are realized as cross-cutting and thus demonstrate the range of different perceptions of the day. The film is narrated from the perspective of a third person, although particular scenes provide individual characters' subjective points of view. An example for this is the scene in which Karo is in the schoolhouse at night, or the scene at the end when Wenger is arrested by the police and driven away. While on the one hand Wenger is filmed in low angle shot and sings rock music in the opening sequence, on the other hand he seems depressed in this last scene. "Slow motion shots reflect istormenting self-reproaches." The change to the subjective view of the thoughtful character corresponds to the dramatic composition throughout the film. This change is meant to initiate reflections on the part of the audience. Gansel justifies the drastic end with the necessity of shocking the audience after the length of the film, of providing a counter-statement and of taking up a stance. A critic assumed that in this country you can't say Adolf without having consequences. So triggering off fascism involves a couple of dead persons. Throughout the film high and low angle shots are used in order to express the balance of power, those at the “top” and those at the “bottom”. At some parts, the film utilizes stylistic devices of the Nazi weekly reviews, which recorded
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
's speeches. An example for this is the closing speech of Wenger. In this scene the camera is placed close behind him, at the level of his nape, and so offers a view of the geometrically arranged crowd of students. Other scenes are based on pop culture. Especially the film clip in which the Wave-supporters spray their logo on buildings, is staged in the style of a
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
.Christoph Cadenbach:
Wie Schüler sich freudestrahlend in Faschisten verwandeln
' In: ''Spiegel Online'', 10. März 2008
This logo is designed as "a jagged
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
wave in a similar way to
Manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
comics." There is a high frequency and abrupt manner of film editing. There is fast, even rapid camera work and the rock music, that accompanies many of the scenes, is often characterized as impulsive.Ulrich Sonnenschein: ''Die Welle'' In: ''epd Film'', März 2008, S. 46Heiko Rosner: ''Das Ende der Unschuld'' In: ''Cinema'', Nr. 4/2008, S. 34–36


Reception

German criticism of ''Die Welle'' was extremely divided. Solely the opinions on the actors were always the same. “From the first scene on, the sympathetic guy tears the audience on his side”, it was reported about
Jürgen Vogel Jürgen Peter Vogel (; born 29 April 1968, in Hamburg) is a German actor, screenwriter, film producer and singer. One of the most successful character actors in German cinema, he first broke out in 1992 with his role in ''Little Sharks''.Jürgen ...
, he was transforming the moral ambiguity of his figure into a “mercurial energy”.Andreas Kilb: ''Auf Wiedersehen, Kinder'' In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', 13. März 2008, S. 36 He played his role realistically, was “credible” or the ideal cast. For the young actors the most frequently used word was “convincing”,Eva Maria Schlosser: ''Das Experiment entgleist'' In: ''Stuttgarter Nachrichten'', 13. März 2008, S. 20 while the 18-year-old
Frederick Lau Frederick Lau (born 17 August 1989) is a German actor. Biography He grew up and still lives in Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name ...
in his role as the outcast Tim received special highlighting. In contrast to the praise for the actors, many critics demurred on the figures, developed by the screenplay. They criticized that the psychological developments are missed out, Wenger and the other figures are partially constructed by cliches, or defined by “something model-like”, they also argued that the figures are “slightly oversubscribed stereotypes”Julia Teichmann: ''Macht, Gemeinschaft, Disziplin'' In: ''Berliner Zeitung'', 12. März 2008, S. 27 or “placeholders”. According to the lack of depth in their motives and emotions, they seem to be distanced, the critics argued further, especially Karo's transformation from the enthusiastic participant to the aggressive opponent is not comprehensible. The critics don't see a stringent necessity for the students, why they should join the movement at all, because their commitment to conformity is not imaginable in West Germany today. The movie, according to the critics, therefore often seems “very pedagogically prescribing: you know, what is meant, but you don’t really believe it.”Sebastian Handke: ''Die Weißwäscher'' In: ''Der Tagesspiegel'', 13. März 2008, S. 31 The critics add, that the pretended serfdom of the Wave-supporters is also undermined by celebrating and tagging excessively. Why the teacher, established as an authority person, becomes a victim of his own staged role play, “remains puzzling“, the critics claim. Because Gansel attributes a position as a left-winger and former squatter to him, he involuntarily provides further evidence for the
Götz Aly Götz Haydar Aly (; born 3 May 1947) is a German journalist, historian and political scientist. Life and career Aly was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. He is a patrilineal descendant of a Mixed Turkish-Kurdish convert to Christianity name ...
's thesis, that the 68er Bewegung have further developed the authoritarian body of thought of the Nazis of 1933, they argued critically. But the character‘s composition was also defended: “The categorization is rather necessary here, because it shows the vulnerability of entirely different people for one and the same idea.“ There was also disagreement about the staging. The movie was exciting, disturbing and fascinating, and deals with a difficult plot as exciting entertainment, some critics pointed out.Mike Beilfuß: ''Die Welle'' In: ''film-dienst'' Nr. 6/2008, S. 53 For a mainstream movie "The Wave“ was often "pleasantly rough and snotty“, they reported. Other critics accused the movie of being conventionally staged, similar to a ''
Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by ...
''-police procedural TV series, or let off steam about the "graffiti-scenes and a nearly never-ending escalating party scene." Jones was complimentary of the film, praising its accuracy to the real-life events (despite the changed ending) that he felt the television film and Strasser's book missed. He noted that although the ending deviates from what happened, its depiction of a "what-if" scenario for the Wave getting out of the teacher's control was closer to what he felt would happen to a true fascist movement even if its leader renounced it.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was released on 25 May 2008 through EMI Germany, and contains tracks by
The Subways The Subways is an English rock band from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Formed in 2002, the band consists of Billy Lunn (lead vocals, guitar), Charlotte Cooper (bass guitar, lead vocals), and Camille Phillips (drums). Founding-drummer Josh ...
,
Kilians Kilians were a German indie rock band. They started out as a loose group of music mad students from Dinslaken, Germany. In 2005, the band's line-up stabilised and they recorded their first self-titled EP. In the following year their song 'Jeal ...
,
Johnossi Johnossi is a rock duo from Saltsjöbaden, Stockholm County, Sweden, consisting of songwriter, singer, guitarist John Engelbert and drummer, percussionist, singer Oskar Bonde, Oskar "Ossi" Bonde. History Engelbert and Bonde first met when they w ...
, Digitalism and
The Hives The Hives are a Swedish rock band that rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the album ''Veni Vidi Vicious'', containing the single "Hate to Say I Told You So". T ...
, as well as a cover version of the classic
Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
' track "
Rock 'n' Roll High School ''Rock 'n' Roll High School'' is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, and Dey Young. The film featured the punk rock group Ramone ...
" made for the film by the German punk band EL*KE. Jan Plewka wrote and recorded a song for the film, ''Was Dich So Verändert Hat'', in both a German and English version. The German version ended up in the film but the English version is available on an international version of the soundtrack. The title-song "Garden Of Growing Hearts" was performed by Berlin band Empty Trash. The original film score was composed by
Heiko Maile Heiko Maile (born 12 January 1966) is a German musician and composer. He is best known as a member of the band Camouflage and as the composer for the score of the films '' The Wave'' and '' We Are the Night'' and won the Deutscher Fernsehpreis f ...
, a member of the band
Camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...
. #"Intro" - Jürgen Vogel & Tim Oliver Schultz #"Rock'n'Roll Highschool" - EL*KE #" Rock & Roll Queen" (Album Version) -
The Subways The Subways is an English rock band from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Formed in 2002, the band consists of Billy Lunn (lead vocals, guitar), Charlotte Cooper (bass guitar, lead vocals), and Camille Phillips (drums). Founding-drummer Josh ...
#"Execution Song" -
Johnossi Johnossi is a rock duo from Saltsjöbaden, Stockholm County, Sweden, consisting of songwriter, singer, guitarist John Engelbert and drummer, percussionist, singer Oskar Bonde, Oskar "Ossi" Bonde. History Engelbert and Bonde first met when they w ...
#"Fight The Start" -
Kilians Kilians were a German indie rock band. They started out as a loose group of music mad students from Dinslaken, Germany. In 2005, the band's line-up stabilised and they recorded their first self-titled EP. In the following year their song 'Jeal ...
#"Garden Of Growing Hearts" (Radio Edit) - Empty Trash #"Spending My Time" - Orange But Green #"Short Life Of Margott" - Kilians #"Everything Is Under Control" - Coldcut #"Bored" - Ronda Ray featuring Markie J #"Homzone" - Digitalism #"Move It!" - Ronda Ray Featuring Trevor Jackson #"Nightlite" (feat. Bajka) -
Bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus '' Pan,'' the other being the comm ...
#"Was Dich So Verändert Hat" - Jan Plewka #"Arrested" -
Heiko Maile Heiko Maile (born 12 January 1966) is a German musician and composer. He is best known as a member of the band Camouflage and as the composer for the score of the films '' The Wave'' and '' We Are the Night'' and won the Deutscher Fernsehpreis f ...
#"Power Control" - Ronda Ray Featuring Trevor Jackson #"Climbing Up the Tower" - Heiko Maile #"Sending Out an SMS" - Heiko Maile #"Swimming" - Heiko Maile #"White Shirts" - Heiko Maile #"Dark School" - Heiko Maile


Differences from the 1981 film

In the 1981 film and its
novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
, the action takes place in the fictitious Gordon High School, which in turn is based on a series of events at a school in Palo Alto, California. The names were changed to sound German, but the characters are similar. For example, Rainer Wenger, Karo, Marco, Mona, and Tim correspond to Ben Ross, Laurie Saunders, David Collins, Andrea, and Robert Billings. The outsider theme was expanded by introducing three new characters: Sinan who is
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
, Kevin the aggressive bully, and Dennis from
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
who is mocked as " Ossi". The 1981 film's ending, where there is no violence and the teacher is not arrested, is much tamer than the ending of ''Die Welle'' and is more accurate to the real-world events that inspired both films.


Box-office success and awards

When the movie was released the publisher Die Broschüre provided schools with material to help teachers "to prepare the visit to the movie theater“ as well as "reviewing it afterwards“. Furthermore, an official novel corresponding to the movie, written by Kerstin Winter, was published. The Wave was released with 279''Spiegel Online'', 17. März 2008:
Hu! Horton hört die Kassen klingeln
'
copies in Germany on 13 March 2008. One day later it was first screened in Austrian movie theaters. Overall the movie attracted 2.5 million German viewers. 6 The Wave received an award for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (
Frederick Lau Frederick Lau (born 17 August 1989) is a German actor. Biography He grew up and still lives in Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name ...
) and the Bronze Lola in the category Best Feature Film at the German Film Awards in 2008 (
Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...
). Furthermore, Ueli Christen was nominated in the category Best Editing. In the same minute lead actor Jürgen Vogel was nominated in the category Best Actor at the European Film Awards 2008. Moreover, The Wave was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema - Dramatic section without receiving an award. The movie was also shortlisted for the seating contest of a German airbender for the Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film, but lost out to ''
The Baader Meinhof Complex ''The Baader Meinhof Complex'' (german: Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, ) is a 2008 German drama film directed by Uli Edel. Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, it stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, and Johanna Wokalek. The film is based ...
''.


See also

* The Wave (TV special) * We Are the Wave


References


External links

* *
The Wave Home
Website with story history, FAQ, links, etc. by original Wave students
guardian.co.uk Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wave, The 2008 films 2008 thriller drama films 2000s German-language films German thriller drama films Films directed by Dennis Gansel Films set in Germany Films set in schools Films about educators 2000s German films