A force to be reckoned with

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews

In order to make a week-long school project more interesting, Rainer(Vogel, a former anarchist) teaches autocracy via full immersion. He makes everyone part of it – one designs their symbol, another their website, etc. It starts out small. Standing when you speak in class, no chit-chat, etc. Over time, however, the movement of The Wave picks up speed, and things go further than anticipated.

The characterizations(and only a few lack a fully realized arc) are strong, and through this, we can see the effects of the fascism on different people. Some are troublemakers, some a little too good in class, not everyone wants to go along, and the various interpersonal relationships and students' status will be either strained or strengthened. History does indeed repeat itself, if we are not aware of the signs – put on display here. Even a small liberal community, today, with all the awareness and knowledge. Something is lacking, perhaps common values.

This gives compelling exploration of conformity, uniformity, rules, following leader and groups(in- and out-), among others. Everyone is a human being, there is no black and white. The alternate rock soundtrack, cutting and hand-held cinematography highlights and renders contagious the youthful energy of Die Welle itself. We are swept up as well, and the tension rises to its inevitable crescendo. Without credits this is 97 minutes long, with them it's 103.

The 2-Disc DVD comes with 83 minutes of interesting extras: 23 and a half minutes of good deleted/extended scenes(clearly removed purely for pacing), a well-made 22 minute making of, 17 and a half minutes of cast/crew interviews, a 6 and a half minute alternate ending, 6 minutes of funny, at times hilarious, outtakes, a 4 minute music video Empty Trash, 3 and a half minute class visit, 2 minute concert video Digitalism, 1 and a half minutes with Ron Jones(who did the original experiment that this is based upon), and half a minute of storyboard-to-film comparison.

There is a lot of disturbing and some violent content in this. I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone interested in psychology, philosophy and/or history. 8/10

score 8/10

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews 12 February 2014

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2959376/