The first time I saw this film I had a deep uncomfortable sensation, independently of the astonishment provoked by the visual "step by step" method for creating a dictatorship. This obviously was not the intention of director Dennis Gansel, who had in mind the various radical political groups sprung at Germany during the last years, such as Stille Hilfe (the oldest ex-Nazis help organization), HNG (recently banned by the German Interior MInistry after declaring this political association outlaw), NPD (the National Democratic Party, ambiguously linked with neonazi and xenophobic activities, e.g. the Zwickau cell), DVU (the German's People Union), and the anti-immigrants riots of Rostock-Lichtenhagen (1992) and Hoyerswerda (1992), in order to create a powerful plea against the excesses of autocracy over German youth based in charming leadership.
Inspired in the literary work by Todd Strasser and in the experience of American professor Ron Jones about the life under a totalitarian regime, the film innocently leads us to the world of mass manipulation and the excesses of selfish leadership. And despite its local approach, "Die Welle" has global, fearful repercussions. Its message astonishes and scares: it's very easy to recreate a dictatorship, not only at Germany, but anywhere, based in the principles given by Robert Cialdini (reciprocation, social approval, scarcity, etc.), rather than in a "clockwork orange" brainwashing based in the Robert Lifton-style coercion. In that sense, the film conclusion is overwhelming: we haven't learned from History; it's enough for a charming person to realize how much influence could have over a group that admires him and follows him, and thus to create an autocratic dynamics from which it can spring a political party, a cult, a civic association rather extreme... the consequences are fearful.
The classroom where main action is developed serves also as a social lab where we can find some well defined characters: the obedient, the rebel, the indecisive, the unsatisfied, the idealist, the opportunist, the one in search of identity... common profiles to the human species and highly vulnerable; despite their intelligence, the "Die Welle" attack is led to their emotions, where there's no reasoning, just an impulse to act, rather than to their brains. In that way, it's an intelligent film that challenges the human capacity for rebelling against conformity, against loss of autonomy, against immoral leadership and its worst consequences. It's a film close to the public, but at the same time with a big social message, despite its small flaws; it should be carefully analyzed by socially compromised scholars and professors, and then it must be made known with the proper warnings to the public: its message is so accessible that, as I said in the summary of this review, it could become an "audiovisual guide for potential dictators" if unscrupulous, ambitious people become aware of it.
After showing this film to a group of Law students some months ago, the impact was obvious: they learned how defenseless we are before these menaces, and how it's necessary to be conscious about the value of autonomy, of respecting human dignity, of being aware for potential Hitlers... They concluded that the success of these dangerous groups depends on the leader's moral and his goals, and how thin is the line between selflessness and selfishness, between positive group dynamics and abusive manipulation, between legitimate and illegitimate, if not illegal, goals. Because the principles used by Prof. Rainer Wenger that lead to the tragic conclusion are not exclusive of the original experiment: we can find them in daily life, in a classroom, in a McDonalds, in a parents-children relationship, in a romantic affair, in a labor place, in our civic associations or public institutions... but the moral that recognizes those principles will define if they will be used for creation or destruction, just as it happens at the end of the film, when Prof. Wenger faces us with the consequences of his behavior, as if he asked while staring us: "What have I done? What will you do?"
A provocative, reflexive, polemic, suggestive, admirable, wonderful film. This jewel of German cinema must be among our favorites, and must motivate us to spread its message in favor of the most elevated human values when menaced by immoral people or groups. Bravo!!!!!!
Inspired in the literary work by Todd Strasser and in the experience of American professor Ron Jones about the life under a totalitarian regime, the film innocently leads us to the world of mass manipulation and the excesses of selfish leadership. And despite its local approach, "Die Welle" has global, fearful repercussions. Its message astonishes and scares: it's very easy to recreate a dictatorship, not only at Germany, but anywhere, based in the principles given by Robert Cialdini (reciprocation, social approval, scarcity, etc.), rather than in a "clockwork orange" brainwashing based in the Robert Lifton-style coercion. In that sense, the film conclusion is overwhelming: we haven't learned from History; it's enough for a charming person to realize how much influence could have over a group that admires him and follows him, and thus to create an autocratic dynamics from which it can spring a political party, a cult, a civic association rather extreme... the consequences are fearful.
The classroom where main action is developed serves also as a social lab where we can find some well defined characters: the obedient, the rebel, the indecisive, the unsatisfied, the idealist, the opportunist, the one in search of identity... common profiles to the human species and highly vulnerable; despite their intelligence, the "Die Welle" attack is led to their emotions, where there's no reasoning, just an impulse to act, rather than to their brains. In that way, it's an intelligent film that challenges the human capacity for rebelling against conformity, against loss of autonomy, against immoral leadership and its worst consequences. It's a film close to the public, but at the same time with a big social message, despite its small flaws; it should be carefully analyzed by socially compromised scholars and professors, and then it must be made known with the proper warnings to the public: its message is so accessible that, as I said in the summary of this review, it could become an "audiovisual guide for potential dictators" if unscrupulous, ambitious people become aware of it.
After showing this film to a group of Law students some months ago, the impact was obvious: they learned how defenseless we are before these menaces, and how it's necessary to be conscious about the value of autonomy, of respecting human dignity, of being aware for potential Hitlers... They concluded that the success of these dangerous groups depends on the leader's moral and his goals, and how thin is the line between selflessness and selfishness, between positive group dynamics and abusive manipulation, between legitimate and illegitimate, if not illegal, goals. Because the principles used by Prof. Rainer Wenger that lead to the tragic conclusion are not exclusive of the original experiment: we can find them in daily life, in a classroom, in a McDonalds, in a parents-children relationship, in a romantic affair, in a labor place, in our civic associations or public institutions... but the moral that recognizes those principles will define if they will be used for creation or destruction, just as it happens at the end of the film, when Prof. Wenger faces us with the consequences of his behavior, as if he asked while staring us: "What have I done? What will you do?"
A provocative, reflexive, polemic, suggestive, admirable, wonderful film. This jewel of German cinema must be among our favorites, and must motivate us to spread its message in favor of the most elevated human values when menaced by immoral people or groups. Bravo!!!!!!
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