Sunday 15 August 2010

FILM: Die Welle (The Wave)

Die Welle is a modern, German adaptation of an experiment which took place in 1967 by a history teacher in California who was covering Nazi Germany in lesson. The students were unable to accept that a large amount of the German population claimed no knowledge of the extermination of Jewish people, so as a way of showing the class pupils the appeal of fascism, he began a movement with the class called the 'Third Wave'. The experiment ended up taking on a life of its own spreading through the school within a matter of days, with the students wearing certain clothes (like uniform) and having a salute etc..

I found Die Welle quite an interesting take on the story as it is set in Germany and shows not only the idea of the students being brainwashed but the uncontrollable power that the teacher cannot contain in himself till the very end. Its a frightening reality that it doesn't take alot for a group of people to get so consumed in an idea that you overlook what is right/wrong. I also found looking into the original story very interesting and have seen that a few films have been made based around the same story including a book.


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