A high school teacher (Jurgen Vogel) decides to do an experiment for his class. He does a demonstration to show what living under a dictatorship is like. It soon goes on a different path when the students decide to take more control of it.
Director: Dennis Gansel
Cast: Jurgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich, Christiane Paul
MPAA Rating: N/A
Fun Fact: Based off a true class room experiment that happened in the 1960’s.
The Wave is a foreign film from Germany that is currently on HULU. I’m not one that keeps up with foreign films but, for this site I should watch more of them. Now thing is that the topic is interesting that I’m kind of surprised that there isn’t an American version out as well.
The acting in The Wave is fantastic in many ways. The chemistry between all of them is one of those I want more of these scenes. These class room scenes are so well directed that they become the best part of the whole film. I’m going to give credit to Dennis Gansel for his direction on this. He knew how to work with his actors to get the results that he needed to complete the film.
I was getting into the characters while the film went on. You will start to relate to some of the students and feel for them. For a realistic type of film like this, they are relatable because they come from all walks of life. I felt bad for the teacher in a way and I don’t want to spoil the film. It brings the question on these characters, how far are you willing to go with something like this?
The one flaw in this film is how quick it goes. The events are told in a week’s amount of time and I just don’t see it going that fast. When something like this happens, you would think that it would go on for months before it goes out of control. If the story had more time wise to it, then we would have something that could be more relatable.
Overall, The Wave is a must see and it will get you thinking. It has tremendous acting and you will enjoy the performances from the actors. While they could’ve polished the story up a bit, you get a foreign film that’s worth seeing even if you don’t really know much about them.
Verdict: Hit
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