V. 
While reading The Guardian this morning I saw an ad for the film Die Welle (The Wave) opening today in the UK. I was at once excited about it and decided that I was going to try my best to catch it on the big screen... until I read the review a few pages later boasting one measly star. It wasn't Peter Bradshaw's review that put me off wanting to see the film, it is because the he explained that the story had been moved out of California and reset in Germany. This, I think, is a REALLY bad choice. Let me explain:
The book The Wave is a fictionalised version of an experiment a history teacher in a high school in Palo Alto, CA, conducted with his class to help his students understand exactly how the Nazi party was able to rise so quickly to power when the party's values weren't consistent with Germany's existing moral values. The experiment took on a life of it’s own as students recruited peers from outside the class to take part, and the situation got out of hand and in, some cases, became quite volatile.
I was required to read The Wave in my 8th grade social studies class under the brilliant tutelage of one Mr. Sullivan (or "Sully" to those who had class with him) at my middle school in Santa Cruz, CA, and we spent a lot of time exploring the effects of the experiment, even inventing a Wave experiment of our own in not nearly such great detail, and carefully guarded to prevent the experiment from going awry. The most amazing thing for me about the original experiment wasn’t that it proved anything about the strength of fascist movements in history, in far away countries that I'd, at the time, never seen. Instead it showed how easily it could happen to almost anyone under the right conditions and it had taken place just over the hill from us. A microcosmic fascist dictatorship had actually sprang up in a place just an hour's drive from where I lived and it happened there with a scary fluidity and ease. And therein, I think, lies the interesting bit about that story. Californians, for all their liberal, laid back thinking, especially near the Bay Area, living continents away from the battlegrounds of Europe's WWII, could be swayed into buying this ideology (on a limited scale). Hitler had it right when he targeted youth. It seems no matter your background and culture; youth is impressionable.
All of this said, I staunchly support the notion that filmmakers anywhere should make their own decisions about what they want to film and take license with the telling of the story, and I realise that some scripts or concepts might be of more interest to some than others. So maybe the story needed to be told again and maybe no one in the US was interested in telling the story again. Maybe Dennis Gansel was interested in the story and something about it rang true for him... and he happens to be in Germany.
But for me, setting the story in the birthing grounds of Nazi Germany destroys the punch of the real Wave experiment. It happened in liberal California where, as far as I know, no fascist dictatorships have reigned supreme, which makes the experiment interesting. There's an opportunity wasted here, to my mind, in addressing the subject of autocracy in a supposed "democracy". I’m really quite sorry that the specter of terror has become something so abstract that Americans in general don’t understand that they have been subject to a similar experiment, that we have been brought into line without realising it, and it's only the packaging and the delivery that has changed since the 1930's Nazi party. I think that The Wave retold by an American director, with a subtext about how the story fits our modern America, could have been a powerful commentary. Germany already owns it’s troubled history. The trailer of this new version doesn't make it appear apologist in any way, it's presented more like a horror movie. To use the real life incident from the United States as a cautionary tale in Germany (hopefully people who already know the consequences) has stripped the lessons to be learned completely from the Wave experiment.
12 comments:
I can't believe they remade this. I had to watch a filmed version of the book when I was in High School. It was one of the most frightening things I think I've ever seen, but I'll never forget it! So there is a version set in California, I believe with the same title.
Sorry, in my poorly constructed post I failed to mention it's original film existence. And I'm right, right? Better in CA than Germany... right?
"in California, where no fascist dictatorships have ever ruled."
Well, Reagan was governor there for quite a while before becoming pres.
Also strange that you, Erik and I all recently wrote about tapping into alienation and anger amongst the youth.
I have the opposite opinion - that the film being set in Germany emphasises the possibility that fascism could still rise anywhere.
The very idea that the German students are people who already know the consequences is touched on explicitly near the start of the film, where the pupils are annoyed that they are in yet another class discussing Hitler, and they argue that dictatorship could never again happen in Germany (of all places).
Whilst you personally may feel that the film loses something in being moved to Germany it might be wise to remember that not everyone lives in America; and therefore wouldn't get the same sense of 'close to home'-ness that you would have got from it being set in California.
Cheers Chris. Just in case you missed it, I don't live in America either. And I think you miss the point about the setting in America not necessarily being about close-to-home-ness, but rather democratic-but-still-susceptible-to-fascism-ness (as well as true-to-the-novel-ness). It's not interesting that fascism could rise AGAIN in Germany, but IS interesting that it could rise anywhere ELSE that thinks it's not susceptible. Also of note: I did lay this post out as my own opinion about the concept, thanks for noticing. Hoever, that means that in expressing my own opinion I don't have to take into consideration what anyone else's experience of the film might be. That's for you to write about in your own blog.
I can't quite make out your point - are you saying that Germany is an undemocratic country? Or that there is something peculiar about the Germans that means they are susceptible to fall under autocratic rule?
Otherwise I can't make any sense of It's not interesting that fascism could rise AGAIN in Germany, but IS interesting that it could rise anywhere ELSE that thinks it's not susceptible.
Apologies for the assumption that you an an American.
Chris wrote: "the film being set in Germany emphasises the possibility that fascism could still rise anywhere."
No it doesn't. It implies that Germans are chronically susceptible to extremist dictatorial autocracies, and I take exception to that because I don't think that's true of modern Germany. Sure, it already happened in Germany, and, in Peter Bradshaw's words,"No shit, Sherlock." BUT what was so shocking about "The Wave" is the experiment in America was too successful, and despite the fact that Americans think they are immune to dictatorial autocracy and that they are clever enough to see through it a group of liberal, free-thinking American students were swept up by the power of autocracy. That's my point.
This has nothing to do with what I think about Germany (which, by the way, I love and the country and language are a big part of my life), it has to do with a remake of a film based on a true story. And yes, you are right, I am American. I don't live in America and haven't for some time. I have made an effort to educate myself so that I have a better-than-average contextual understanding of European countries and their history, for an American native. You're absolutely right, I have my own context, and in my own context I have my own opinions. America is part of my context... but it is only part. I belong to a larger world, and I don't consider America to be my home. I would rather think that having lived in and out of America I might have a better rounded opinion than yourself, but then I would be making assumptions about you as you have been making about me and that will get us nowhere.
I am a film director, so my opinion is coloured by that. It is my opinion, as a filmmaker, that the director of "Die Welle" did the original, dramatised, fact-based story of "The Wave" an injustice when he took it out of liberal California (where there has not been a Nazi-style fascist regime) and set it in Germany (where there has already been a Nazi regime).
Movie viewing public in general around the world will not think "Gosh, I guess it could happen again!" They're more likely to think, "But of course it could happen again in Germany." Sadly, that's what people are inclined to think. I don't think it's true and I don't like what that says about Germany.
That's about it. I don't think I can be much clearer about my opinion.
If you're interested, Peter Bradshaw said it from a British point of view: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/19/drama.worldcinema1
I have read the Bradshaw review and I do see where he is coming from - there is no mystery in the direction in which the film is going (even for those who aren't aware of the original Ron Jones demonstration). I happen to disagree with Bradshaw's overall assessment (as I do with a lot of his reviews) that the film is entirely without merit, as although it was hardly challenging, I did enjoy watching it. If you think Bradshaw's review is supportive of your view on the relocation of the setting of the film you may want to read it again, as he does not mention it once.
I disagree that the film is implying that Germans are chronically susceptible to extremist dictatorial autocracies. My view is that contemporary Germany is the place least likely to allow itself to come under extremist, autocratic rule; precisely because of the horrors that occured last time. I would argue that this is the position taken by the students at the start of the film.
I absolutely agree that modern Germany is not any more susceptible to dictatorship than any other country. I don't think this film is saying anything about Germany; it is merely saying that everyone living in democratic society must always strive to be more aware of how they are acting and behaving, and to be wary of groupthink.
Having said all this, I would imagine the main reason the film is set in Germany is that it is a German film with a German director & actors.
Incidentally, I agree with the comments Mark Kermode makes about the tranposition of the setting of the film in the following review (although I think he liked the film more than I did):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/entertainment/kermode_archive_w.shtml
Fair comment. Thanks for the link, interesting stuff.
that is dumb, gansel would be the name of the director and if you have seen his work, he is probably the best at protraying coming of age tales and teen conspiracies, your dumb it would of ruined the movie if it were based in california.
"your dumb it would of ruined the movie if it were based in california."
My dumb what? Oh, I see what you meant to say. No Brooke, YOU'RE dumb.
I suggest you A) learn English grammar, and B) read up. "The Wave" is a book about a supposed real life story which took place in California.
Thanks for playing.
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