Die Welle

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The title means "The Wave." Just letting you know, since apparently me writing down original titles makes me look pretentious...

Anyway...

Yes, yes: the end is a bit predictable: you know who'll be blamed, who'll die, and who'll end up with their loved ones, but at the end of the day, with the resurrgence of neo-fuckheads, this film is an important one.
Of course, and obviously, said fuckheads won't be watching this film 'coz they'll be too busy masturbating in -or to- their rifles (that's a Bill Maher paraphrase), but still...
It's about how people can be so easily influenced. You throw in a uniform and a bit of 'Gemeinschaft,' some authority figure and a dash of goose-stepping and wham bam thank you ma'am: you got yourself a fascist state.

This film kept reminding me of a postcard I have at home that says "never under-estimate the power of very stupid people in large groups."
You put in jocks, bullies, outcasts and misfits, you stir the shit and they will turn into a ruthless brainless gang (hmm... me thinks that was a pleonasm).

The teacher is Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, it doesn't matter (even though the salute and the word 'Fuehrer' make us think of a certain mustachioed one-balled someone. Not to mention the language).
People are dumb, people are lost, if you give 'em a leader and a non-cause, and they'll be ready to vandalise, bully and kill for you.
'You're either for us or against us,' and the crowd goes wild. This isn't so much the Braunau over-achiever's words, these have a bit more of a Crawford twinge to 'em (and the teacher got a simple but great sticker on his mailbox. But stickers are mere propaganda, as this film also shows us. Wow. Wine makes me deep).

It all comes down to this: humans are fucking predictable and loathsome.

Ah but, ah but...
How about this?...

Instead of blaming people as a whole, instead of focusing on their stupidity, how about we blame everything on one guy? Then, when this guy is gone (be it by a bullet in the head/incineration, a stroke, or hung upside down in a gas station), we can move on.

"I was only following orders." "I just wanted to belong."
Sounds familiar?

So, this film is great because it:
a - shows how stupid people are and:
b - how stupider people are, because it's always easier to blame everything on one guy. Let's demonize ONE guy and forget about it all.
Sure.

"I really didn't want to gas all those people, but my immediate superior told me to."
"When I got to Babi Yar, I thought it was gonna be a big keg party. It wasn't, but since I was already there, I thought: 'What the hell, might as well join in...'"
"I figured I was already in Siberia, so why not kill a few people smarter than I am?"

Yeah. Sure.

And then you have to ask why I'm a misanthrope.