Die Welle is a German foreign language film about a professor in a German high school teaching his class about the dangers of nationalism.
The film touches on many issues surrounding the history of discrimination and fascism in Germany, the power influence can have over a group of people and facilitating discussion on what the modern-day "German Identity" is.
Synopsis
Die Welle's main character, Rainer Wegner, teaches at a a fairly ordinary and modern school in Germany. He is well-liked by both students and the teaching staff.
Nearing the end of another semester, Mr. Wegner is given the responsibility of teaching his students about autocracy for the school's project week.
Even though Mr. Wegner is popular among his students they fail to be interested in the topic. They cause multiple disruptions and simply do not want to learn even more information about their country's dysfunctional past.
To get the attention of his students, Mr. Wegner decides to take a different approach to his lessons and develops an experiment for his class to take part in.
In this experiment his students learn more about self-rule, structure, ideology and discipline.
But soon enough the experiment takes on a life of its own and the students quickly become transfixed by the entire concept of the scenario.
Soon the classroom transforms into an itching resemblance to the forming of the Nazi Party and their autocratic rule leading up to the Second World War.
Important Themes
The film touches on many real-world themes including the amount of education German students receive about World War II and the Holocaust.
Today, there are even schools in Germany which are still named after Nazis. As hard as it is to learn about such a disturbing point in their country's history, it must be done.
It was a very dark point in their country's history but they have the responsibility not to forget about it. It is widely held that this education should be a part of every German school curriculum.
However, some people have differing opinions to this way of thought; many of whom are aligned on the political right. For example in 2014 Björn Höcke, the leader of Germany's right-wing AfD party has said that:
"school courses give too much attention to Hitler's reign, overlooking other historical periods", also stating that "Germans ought to take a 180-degree turn in political memory".
Höcke also blames the German government for there being too much fixation on Nazi history in German schools.
Many today hold contrary beliefs seeing that education about Nazis is heavily important. Which has led to many today like the students in Die Welle questioning how much history they should be taught, with some arguing that the modern day German Identity is exclusively based on guilt.
Moreover, Die Welle importantly raises the question of how dangerous nationalism is, pointing out how quickly ideas can spread in an almost intoxicating fashion.
Leading many Western nations coining the term "alt-right" taking the place of past terms like fascist, nationalist and neo-nazi.
This change in language and national identity has spread across both Europe and North America with clear examples seen with the latest American Presidential Election and the UK's Brexit movement and vote (both of which were based on campaigns corner-stoned on nationalism and heavy xenophobia).
Conclusion
Altogether Die Welle is an absolutely incredible film which explores modern German ideals.
The film also speaks to how destructive nationalist ideologies can be and how quickly they can take form.
Die Welle is a film which keeps you entertained through it's entirety and is a great modern take on the emerging neo-nationalist mode of thought in present day Germany.
Additionally the concept of German Identity and the formation of a new German psyche is present throughout the film. It is especially interesting to see how the students in the film try to understand what it consists of.
Die Welle is more than a film, it is a masterpiece. It explores a fairly taboo topic in German society and gives a glimpse into what is means to be a young German today and how they are effected by historical and present-day narratives.
