Review: The Wave

**** / *****

"Heil Headmaster!"

Based on a real event from a California high school in 1967 and transposed to Germany today, The Wave is a cautionary tale about the roots of fascism. Seductive and horrifying at the same time, it suggests that anything is possible in today's unstable environment. And it's pretty damn scary to think it might be right.

An assured piece of filmmaking by Dennis Gansel, The Wave captures the intoxicating power of conformity. Gansel opens the film with a rush of energy and doesn't let go. Charismatic teacher Rainier Wenger (Jurgen Vogel) is driving to school with the Ramones' "Rock 'n' Roll High School" blasting in his car as the camera gazes at the calm life of the city passing outside. It's not going to last long.

It's Project Week at school, and though Wenger, an aging post-punk radical with unconventional teaching methods, is disappointed he doesn't get to teach the class on anarchy, he dives headfirst into the preparing for his class on autocracy. It's a hard sell to the indifferent students and as one puts it, "What is there left to be against? All we want is to have fun." What follows is a textbook study of how fascism starts and takes hold. When Wenger asks if a dictatorship like Hitler's would be possible in Germany today, the students either say no or don't care. But Wenger gets an idea for an experiment.

So the class elects him as leader and in contrast to his usual easygoing style he demands that students call him Mr. Wenger and stand when they have something to say. The motto for the day is "strength through discipline." Once he's got the students' attention, things escalate within a week. Fascism has traditionally taken hold among an underprivileged, alienated population, and who is more alienated than high school students? They like the idea of dressing the same to reduce social pressures and they start wearing jeans and white shirts. They name the group "The Wave," create a cool logo and a come up with a salute scarily reminiscent of Hitler's.

Much to their surprise, and Wegner's, they find that they like the power of unity, of being able to rely on others, and soon this new-found discipline spills over to other school activities, and newcomers join the group. One student, Karo (Jennifer Ulrich), who has a fairly stable familial structure, resists the rising conformity, but even her boyfriend, Marco (Max Riemelt), who comes from a broken home, is smitten.

The Wave gives these kids something to believe in for a change and some of the initial ideas about social equality and the will of the people are appealing, until they go too far. As in the rise of the Nazis, unstable and disturbed individuals latch on and feel powerful for the first time, and the most damaged become the lieutenants. That's what happens to Tim (Fredrick Lau), a disturbed, skittish student who no longer feels like an outsider.

But when the insiders start bullying other students and violence erupts outside school, Wegner realizes things might have gone too far. The genius of the screenplay by Gansel and Peter Thorwarth is that they recognize Wegner's good intentions, his psychology and mixed feelings. His wife, Anke (Christiane Paul), who also teaches at the school, holds him accountable, and he admits he loves being idolized.

Vogel (a very underrated German actor) is brilliant in the film's climactic scene as his agreeable face hardens and contorts into a scowl as he becomes the dictator he feared. The cast of kids, especially Ulrich as the dissenter and Lau as the most vulnerable, are convincing enough to command the belief that they really are high school students. Gansel is obviously dealing with complex stuff here and he does so with first class filmmaking. A pounding score of rock songs and music by Heiko Maile adds to the combustible mix and cinematography by Torsten Breuer captures the action, including some aggressive water polo matches, with a combination of outstanding hand-held and slow-motion camera work.

Although the original experimental demonstration, named "The Third Wave," in a Palo Alto high school did not end this way in 1967, Gansel has updated the climax to what could and has happened in schools today. There is something additionally chilling about seeing it take place in Germany. But as the film makes abundantly clear, the roots of fascism grow everywhere. It's just particularly brave of a German filmmaker to decide to make this film, to acknowledge his county's history for once, and not look the other way.