The Case for the New Wave

My final film for the 2008 Film Festival was a German film called the Wave.

Based (apparently quite loosely) on a book of the same name, the Wave follows a week in the life of a school project into various forms of government, in particular autocracy. And of course, being in Germany, the kids all breathe a sigh when one of the most famous autocracies, the Third Reich, is brought up, convinced that history could never repeat itself.

The reluctant teacher (Wenger, who would rather teach anarchy) therefore decides to give discipline and uniformity a good shot. What follows is a very quick lesson as the kids discover a cohesion they never had before by surrendering themselves to the directives of the teacher and conformity and interaction with each other, and through the exclusion of anyone who might be a bit different.

As with the Germany of the 1930s, a well educated country brought bank from the brink of financial and nationalistic ruin through the firm hand of the National Socialist Party, the positives of the unity of purpose and the group bonding behind banners and slogans masks the dark undercurrent of the loss of individual freedoms and expression, and the pitting of the inner crowd against the outer. There has to be some suspension of disbelief to fully buy into the idea that a whole class of high school children would be so willing bound together in just a few very long days, and some of the individual stories and motivations are lost in the telling of the bigger picture, but the ideas make sense, especially with the character of Tim (an amazing actor this one, to appear so needy and scary yet still be sympathetic), a disaffected rich kid who finds meaning and purpose in a group that he lacked elsewhere.

Personally, I found the film fairly hard to watch. The sense of unity brought on by strict authoritarianism reminded me of my own high school days when, in my first year, the school seniors enforced "school spirit" while armed with cricket bats that were used on the less enthusiastic students - and, five years later, one of my own classmates remarked that those seniors were some the most inspirational he had ever had. Finding commonality through conformity can be a wonderful sensation for those on the inside, and can have many positive results. However, while the majority may just go along for the ride, there are others who will take things much more seriously, or manipulate the situation to suit their own end. And in those circumstances...

Well, the result (in the film) is a bit too hasty, a bit too pat. Individuality by the masses is surrendered just that little bit too quickly. However, for the disaffected, like Tim, the ending feels a lot more convincing, while Wenger's final shot poses questions that are never answered. There are perhaps some cultural differences that stopped me from fully understanding this film, but the story itself is powerfully - if not perfectly - told.

Verdict: 21st Century Germany is full of beautiful people, but tragedies of the past still haunt them. The Wave is a really interesting movie on peer pressure and society in general, with Hitler's shadow forever looming in the background. Not completely convincing, but perhaps that was deliberate. 7 waves out of 10.