Dennis Gansel’s film is drawn from a Californian source where, some years ago, a high school experiment, in which a class was transformed into a mini-dictatorship as a warning against autocracy, went dangerously wrong.
Transferred to Germany, where there are inevitable echoes of the Third Reich (mocked by the kids at first as old hat and boring), it has Juergen Vogel as the teacher concerned, furious that he has to deal with autocracy rather than anarchy.
His class, however, embraces the system, called The Wave, readily enough — and learns to play as a team for once at water polo.
But gradually The Wave becomes the dominant presence on campus and violence stirs. Gansel, who has already explored the grooming of young fascists in Before the Fall, pushes his story towards melodrama as it progresses, and only the acting of the kids prevents a certain obvious didacticism. It’s a strong film but in the end a rather obvious one.
The Wave (Die Welle)
Cert: 15
