Die Welle, aka The Wave, is 2008 German movie about a free-spirit teacher who gets in over his head. It’s got sub-titles, but worth watching anyway.
Weller gets the bright idea to show them, rather than tell them. He takes on the role of a charismatic leader, and gradually introduces fascistic policies. Kids are gullible, and are eager to finally hear from someone with all of the answers. The students love it, and surprisingly, so does Mr. Weller. The whole thing goes tits-up by the end of the week.
Die Welle is a based on events that happened in a high school in California in 1967. Several movies cover the real-life story, but this version, taking place in Germany, is particularly powerful.
The idea of a charismatic teacher influencing a large number of students, is entirely plausible. At North Royalton, one teacher has several aquariums and enjoys keeping cichlids. In a casual conversation with students, a “Fish Club” was started. By the end of the week, 400 students had joined. He had no idea what the point of the club would be, and counted on it dropping off quickly. It was just a fun, dumb fad that everyone wanted to be in on.
At North Royalton, Mr. Hoover is a motivated and charismatic Social Studies teacher. He has exhibited good judgment the entire time that I’ve known him, but when he was a young, new teacher, it isn’t hard to imagine him getting a brainstorm similar to what is depicted in Die Welle.
Part of the interest in watching foreign films is seeing how people live by observing the aspects of the movie that aren’t central to the plot. I like seeing how high schools work.
Early in the movie, it’s established that the teacher is a nonconformist because he listens to the Ramones. He wears a Ramones t-shirt to school, considers himself an anarchist and students address him by his first name.
For some reason, he lives on a boat. It’s not a plot point, so maybe it’s not unusual in Germany.
The teacher has over 30 students in a modern, but sterile looking classroom. There is no sense of personality in the room. Students are setup for group work, and aren’t positioned for lecturing.
The school looks gigantic, and is styled more like an airport terminal. All interior shots look modern and sterile, like the classroom. There are racks for at least a hundred bikes.
The school does have a nice swimming pool and a water polo team. Normandy has a swimming pool, but it isn’t this nice. I’d always heard that in Europe, schools didn’t have extracurricular athletic teams like we do in the US. Sports teams were city-wide, and more like our independent club sports. I’ve had a few German exchange students, but never talked about this subject.
The German teenagers seem less supervised than you’d expect in an American suburb. These kids gather on a beach adjacent to an abandoned industrial building. In Germany, 16 year-olds can buy beer and wine, so there doesn’t seem to be any problem with gatherings like this.
This movie may not present the typical lifestyle of German students. In America, high schools seem to be depicted as California high schools with good-looking kids sitting around outside all the time, or aged and over crowded urban high schools with mouthy diverse students.
The Welle is an engaging take on a real-life high school experience. It’s an 8/10, and more interesting than any movies that are currently coming out.