" die welle
Click to viewFor those who never studied social psych, sociology or psychology in general, you may have never heard of the Third Wave. Essentially it was a essentially an experiment in how easy it to succumb to fascism. It might be easier to summarize from one of the lines in Die Welle where the teacher asks: Do you think there could ever be another dictatorship in Germany? A student responds that they are too educated for that. Another, that they're beyond that.
Die Welle is a docudrama (is that the right word?) that is essentially two degrees removed from the Third Wave experiment. It is based on a novel based on the experiment. And I am sure there has been embellishment (I've never read the book and only briefly studied the experiment in school, myself).
What is most striking about the movie, for me, anyway, was how easy it is to see this happening. It is not a question of "how could they have" but "oh god, I see how". The tension and sinking feeling in your stomach isn't only anticipation -- its knowledge. The teacher -- Herr Wenger -- starts with small things. Address me by Herr Wenger instead of Rainer (his first name). The desks are put in order. Sit up straight in class. Stand while speaking. It moves on to "calisthenics" and then a uniform. And a salute. The words he says are addicting and powerful -- feel community, feel proud, feel unity, feel part of something. Everything is encouraging. Poor students do better. Alienated students gain friends. There's no downside ... until it all goes sour.
I think the film does a wonderful job at displaying both sides of a lot of the arguments. Uniforms promote unity, level the playing field (having money to buy expensive clothes v. not being able to etc) and then on the other side, individuality, expression, etc. The characters aren't shown as being "better" than others. There is no "right" side. While the narrative arc goes to show there are consequences, it does not point to an ideological wrong so much as people, actions and some of the tragedies of humanity. Give someone who had nothing and then take it all away from him, what does that do?
The climaxing of the film is probably too over the top violent. But at the same time I feel like it weighs itself well. This is a film with a lot of indications of violence -- the gun was put on the table, so to speak. And so it had to go off.
I think all of the characters presented seemed to be normal. Real? There was certain amounts of fantastical or more unreal elements to different scenes. But it was also real enough that I could go "yes, that could happen".
All and all Die Welle is a film I recommend to anyone who is interested in obedience studies or studied a social science. It's the kind of thing I love -- learning bundled up in a dramatic story.