The Wave

Ben Ross, an american high school social studies teacher, goes above and beyond the curriculum of the Socratic method in his lesson plans. Based in a modern day setting (filmed in 1981), Ross decides to take a new spin on learning about communism and dictatorships and experiments on his own class instilling values of discipline and compliance with his law. Ross calls their group "The Wave" and soon enough more students join in until those not involved with The Wave are in the minority and even persecuted for being so. At the end of the film Ross calls an assembly of his loyal followers and introduces them to their "national leader" showing them a violent film strip of Adolf Hitler speaking to hundreds of his own followers. Imagine the students' embarrassment to find that they had fallen victim to the same tricks they had been horrified at just weeks prior.
My initial reaction to this movie was a bit of a melting pot of emotions. The plot itself was mortifying and the overall film had an eerie feel to it that left one unsettled in their seats. Later however, I reveled at the originality of the film and the fascinating message it sends through a hard-hitting style; it made the lesson stick. Though the acting and cinematography may not have been at its best, due to an assumed low budget, director Alexander Grasshoft spoke clearly to his audiences. What haunted me even more was learning in the end of the film that these events portrayed were based on a true story. This just goes to show how easy it is to gain control of those unsuspecting.
Though the figures of the film weren't extraordinary, the content was undeniably some of the strongest I have been faced with to this date. I give this film 3 out of 5 waves.