Other critics accused the movie of being conventionally staged, similar to a Tatort-police procedural TV series, [25] or let off steam about the "graffiti-scenes and a nearly never-ending escalating party scene. He made them address him as Mr Jones, stand by their desks when answering questions, and chant slogans. As a consequence, Todd Strasser, whose novel popularized the material in Germany, and the publisher Ravensburg, did not receive direct revenues from the film project.

When Wenger, an affable schoolteacher who seems to be rebellious towards traditional instruction, gets selected to teach a class on autocracy, he is upset. Gansel, whose grandfather had been a Wehrmacht officer, also announced that this film would be the first and last one concerning the topic of the Third Reich in his career as a director. Wenger suggests a uniform of a white shirt and jeans, to remove class distinction and further unite the group.He made the film in a way that should have a “seductive effect” on the viewers to make them interested in The Wave and by doing so show the powerful attraction such a movement can have. At first sight German socio-political thriller film The Wave initially just seems too cute, convenient and contrived. Finale is spellbinding as even if it diverts a lot from the actual experiment, it still proves as a necessity to further establish a point. Unless, by some unlikely series of coincidences, you have missed out on the whole story and need a (relatively) quick fix, I would miss out on this one. The notion of new fascism or totalitarianism is kinda scary and it was a bit uncomfortable to see how people react when they are in a mob or a group.

It works as a study of human behavior that manipulating mind of many at once is not a rocket science. Students made banners, had membership cards, coerced others to join the movement, beat up those who wouldn't conform and voluntarily informed on each other. The acting by and large is very good; however a few of the actors displayed a scope for further improvement. The screenplay moves the experiment, which was carried out in California in the 1960s, to present day Germany.He burns all of his brand-name clothes, after a discussion about how large corporations do not take responsibility for their actions. The most disturbing thing is that the teacher slowly loses control over himself, until there is a disaster. There is also a very moving portrayal of some of the tensions produced within some of the romantic pairings as well as the extreme anguish caused in one student by his heightened susceptibility. He said the movie is not an adaption and that he changed characters, dialogues as well as the beginning and ending of the movie.

Di Based on a real incident in California, the action has been transferred to Germany, where it even makes a bigger impact, taken the country's own domination by a political power that was so disastrous for that nation. The members of The Wave begin spray-painting their logo around town at night, having parties where only Wave members are allowed to attend, and ostracizing and tormenting anyone not in their group. Neatly structured by days, the experiment begins with simple disciplines and grows to become an exclusive cult named "the wave" with its own uniform and salute.

Karo continues her opposition to the Wave, earning the anger of many in the group, who ask her boyfriend, Marco, to do something about it. This is a wonderful film with a superb screenplay and direction and great acting from its mainly young cast. Director Dennis Gansel managed to churn out a movie that was watchable and definitely had some interesting political and social aspects to it, some that definitely leaves you with something to think about. The standard of acting by the large cast is uniformly (pun intended) good and it should be added that they look like senior high school students of 17 - 18 and not 25 - 30 year olds faking it. Film parallels to the effect of Third Reich within its members and climax reminds audiences of the Bruno Ganz header "Der Untergang", as it clearly parallels the extent of loyalties that may arise in such occasions.

The former teacher commented that Gansel's movie gave an "incredibly convincing" account of the actual experiment. Soon, what was a simple classroom experiment grows to a social entity all it's own, with the teacher not sure if he can reverse the effects. Yes, I can see the character of Wegner being very likeable, and the students seem to like him as a teacher.A Autocracy teacher develops with his students an social experiment about how dictatorships are created and he challenges the boys and girls who said that this kind of fascist regime would be impossible to exist in the 21st century. She refused to wear the white shirt, missed interest in the class, and even fought with her boyfriend believing that everything in "The Wave" was wrong.