Film Reviews

The Wave

• Rating:
• Director: Dennis Gansel
• Starring: Frederick Lau
• Details: Germany / 101mins (15A).

The Wave had a roundabout way of getting to the big screen. It all kicked off in California, 1967, when teacher Ron Jones had a novel idea for his social studies lesson - the class would become a fascist state, complete with its own Gestapo, called The Third Wave. Jones cranked it up a notch by the end of the week by telling the class that this wasn't a lesson and were in fact part of a national movement; just as the class sat down in the hall to hear the real 'leader' speak, Jones showed them images of Nazi atrocities, telling them that this will be their future if they continued down this road. In 1981, a TV movie was aired followed by a novelisation, which turned out to be a bestseller and is now a textbook in German schools. Although names, dates (set today) and locations have been changed, the story remains the same: Radical teacher Rainier Wenger (Vogel) wants his class to explore autocracy for Project Week: the class are to form a psuedo-party called The Wave; they are to dress the same, create a logo and elect a leader. The project gives the students confidence, then direction, and finally authority, but things are taken too far when The Wave start bullying other students, and when the unhinged Tim (Lau) buys a gun you know this isn't going to be a happy ending...

Although the story is interesting and entertaining throughout, The Wave is altogether too obvious to call it a success. There are too many clunky lines to forgive: "What is left to rebel against anymore? We need a goal to unite us," and "This is my life!" being the best of a bad lot. This is your life? The project is only a week old, son. Get a grip.

Review by Gavin Burke