The Wave (1981)

For years after the movie I would think about how wonderful this movie was. The concept was smart and innovative. The message of this movie was simple and so powerful. It really gave you an incredible inside how mass consciousness can be influenced so easily. How hierarchy can create a safety net but also a very interesting dynamics of peoples inside feeling of having power. How that power can turn into "power over" instead of "empowering". And how threatening it can be for those people who think they have some power, to loose it and then be nothing again. The thought of power being so powerful that if you loose it you are a nothing. And how important it is to have those few people that see through it all and speak up. I thougth that all the children of the world should watch this movie and learn from it. It made a big impression on me.

I remember learning a world war two unit at school and i saw this movie. over all i thought it was okay. A really good plot outline some okay acting, a pretty low budget film for an after school special.Now i figure, what if someone took the time to actually make it into a real movie. With famous actors actresses and a good director. Should it be done, will people go out and see it. I think so, if they take the real story and actually make it good. I think that it can be done and it should, just as long as they make it right and not corny like this after school special.What do you think, should it be done? If so, what actors actresses, directors, produces should do it.

"The Wave" is a film that has tremendous classroom value. Since it is based on the Nazi party's recruitment and brainwashing techniques, the film works well for high school classes studying the Second World War. The film also has sociology applications as it demonstrates how organized hatred can impact an entire social institution (in this case, a high school). Furthermore, any unit on racism or discrimination would benefit from "The Wave". I used the film consistently in holocaust units, history courses, and psychology classes. It has always drawn rave reviews (despite its age) from students. However, the film is difficult to acquire and since my copy is aging I am calling for a re-release of "The Wave".

This is a quite astonishing insight into the psychology of fascism and nazism. It's perfectly credible. Where can one buy the book? on Amazon? Can you rent it in a library? I'd like to read it very much. Anyway, I saw it when I was very young. I'm a child of the 80s and this is very much an 80s movie but that does not make it any less brilliant. 10/10.If I saw it today I would probably laugh at it. But is that not because I have become an "oppressor" myself? Again I cannot begin to emphasize how deeply this short TV-movie has burned into my mind and stays there embodying the truth of our awful (in)human condition. This should be shown in all schools all over the world and taken very seriously in group discussions. It is an antidote for fascism on the level of Nietzsche in so far he is an antidote for suppresive religion. I cannot begin to emphasize how grateful I am for the moral lesson of "The Wave". It is a teaching tool for anyone who wants to avoid violence in schools, sects, political parties or any other group. Amen.