My latest LoveFilm DVD is a story about fascism. In an attempt to teach his kids about autocratic systems of government a teacher starts a kind of cult in his classroom called 'The Wave'. They begin the dress the same, they adopt a common handshake and develop a gang mentality in which those who are in are protected while those who are outside are the enemy. The point of all this is for the kids to learn about how easily an autocratic system of government could become reality – all it requires is someone to stir a mass of people into action in the name of a cause. Once people start feeling a sense of belonging the rest happens by itself.
I guess that this is meant to be an interesting film about the dangers of fascism, I also presume that it is meant to be hard-hitting since it's set in modern day Germany where the kids are all rather unconcerned about the spectre of fascism, the Nazis were so last century after all. I don't really buy it all though as I'm pretty sure that nothing like what happens in the film would actually happen in real life. The end of the film is also seriously telegraphed, from the class's initial reaction to the creation of The Wave there is no real doubt as to what the final denouement is going to be.
So anyway, it's a film with a lot of promise but which ends up being far too unrealistic to have any power. Probably worth watching to make up your own mind though.
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