WORLD HISTORY : THE WAVE
The Wave
The Movie
When dealing with Nazi Germany and the horrors it encapsulates, there’s a common myth that many people like to tell themselves: ‘it could never happen again.’ In The Wave, this myth is expelled.
Based on a book, which in turn is based on a true story, The Wave follows a German high school teacher's unusual experiment to show his students what life is like under a dictatorship. Starting off as a whim, the students’ enthusiasm to the newly introduced discipline and regiment soon takes on a life of its own: within days frenzy overtakes the school, and indeed, the local town, with students becoming increasingly violent and fanatic. The experiment is eventually called off.
Despite subtitles, the Wave is an instantly engaging movie, that will appeal to a much larger audience than simply art house. Moreover, it's a movie that demands to be seen: its message might not be subtle, but it is incredibly important, with the Wave being a thoughtful reminder of the darkness that lies deep within us all.
The Truth Behind the Movie
In the fall of 1967, a history teacher at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, named Ron Jones conducted an experiment in his class. During a lesson on the subject of National Socialism, one of his students asked a question the teacher couldn't answer: "How could the German populace claim ignorance of the slaughter of the Jewish people? How could the townspeople, railroad conductors, teachers, doctors, claim they knew nothing about the concentration camps and human carnage? How can people who were neighbors and maybe even friends of the Jewish citizen say they weren't there when it happened?"
On the spur of the moment, he decided to conduct a classroom experiment. He instituted a regimen of strict discipline in his class, restricting their freedom and forming them into a unit. The name of the movement was The Third Wave. Much to the teacher's astonishment, the students reacted enthusiastically to the obedience he demanded of them. The experiment, which was originally intended to last only a day, soon spread to the whole school. Dissenters were ostracized, members began spying on each other, and students who refused to join were beaten up on. By day five, Ron Jones was forced to call off the experiment.
Interview with Ron Jones, the teacher and inventor of the orignal Wave
What is it like for you being on the set of THE WAVE?
One of the stunning feelings of being here on set right now and watching a group of students is seeing ghosts. I am seeing the actual students, so I am back in 1967 and there is Doug fooling around, and there is the class comedian Steve, these two women sitting upfront, Aline Lavin and Wendy, who are so bright and wonderful, and there is Norman sitting in the back row with his gold tooth smile, and Jerry. I am seeing this strange reminder of that similar class.
What was your reaction to the first footage?
It’s really interesting to see the dynamics between a man and a woman that are married for a long time. My wife and I have been together 43 years and the little subtle signs we send each other and the little breaking mechanisms, you know, hey, you are going too far or stop, you are beginning to hurt, that mechanism happened in the Wave. My wife basically said, you have gone too far, it's dangerous to you and the people around you and that’s captured in this version of The Wave. So it's beautifully unique, it’s the heart speaking, its not the mind telling you a story, it’s the glory of this wonderful children that are like flowers in our lives and what happens when they come into your lives and what happens when a teacher goes a little bit too far and becomes a dictator.
What do you think of what happened, looking back? Are you grateful for the experience?
Well, I would never do it again. Its something you would never do, put children in danger. Grateful? I stumbled upon a bit of human nature in our psyche that might be useful. Therefore I am grateful to that effect and that a movie might be made and people might talk about it and study it. You know, German culture is unique. They are the only ones I know that are really concerned about violence. They study it, because they don’t want to repeat it. Whereas in my culture things have happened, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, our guilt is just thrown away, we are not concerned. We are not studying racism, we are not studying violence. They are unique. I don’t know anyone else that is so concerned. But once again, you are looking at The Wave trying to understand why do we give up our freedom for the thought of being better than anyone else. That’s a lesson that we all need to see and hear and talk about.
What were your feelings and emotions during the experiment?
I discovered how to teach really well, because people were learning rapidly. I kept going home to my wife saying Diana, they are really learning, this is crazy, they used to have little stations when we used to have freedom in the classroom and now they are rigid, they answer every question and everyone seems to be helping everyone else, I have stumbled across this great way of teaching. Of course the consequence was damaging to all. So my emotions were like a rollercoaster.
How did your wife react to the experiment?
My wife was teaching at that school at the same time, at the elementary school level. And we were young teachers, both of us full of ideas and energy. She was aware of what’s going on and she was the one that fortunately said this is not good: “It's not good for you, because you don’t know where you’re going and you are hurting other people and this is not what you believe, this is not democracy. This is dangerous.” She was the one that tilted me back into some form of reality and forced me to stop The Wave. So everyone should have a good wife or women around him to say: Hey, no more.
When did you realise you went too far?
The exact moment I knew that I had gone too far was when Robert followed me into the faculty room. I didn’t anticipate this and here he was in the faculty room and that other teacher, Bonnie, the head of the English department, very similar character in the movie, glasses dropped off his nose and he looked at this Robert and said: “Robert you don’t belong here, this is the faculty room, this is for faculty only.” And Robert looked at Bonnie and said:” I am not a student, I am a body guard.” And I knew that he had crossed over some invisible line – what was a simulation had become something real. I realised I was crossing over that same line. I was no longer just teaching about this thing called fascism. I was enjoying being a leader, and that was frightening.
Did the Third Wave work because you were popular as a teacher?
No, no. The experiment worked because most of us were lost, don’t have a family, don’t have a community, don’t have a feeling of belonging, and there happened to be a young teacher saying, I can give that to you.
So the experiment could work today?
Oh, it is working nowadays, in every school. People always ask, do you think the Wave could take place today? Hey, go to your local school. Where is democracy? We always talk about democracy, but we are not experiencing it. We are not deciding what books to read or what themes to pursue or how to help one another to become better citizens. We are not working on these ideas. We follow the curriculum, which someone says is the correct curriculum. We don’t have control, someone else has itl.
What were the consequences for you?
Not because of the Wave, but because of fighting for civil rights and stopping the war in Vietnam, I was dismissed from that school three years after The Wave experiment, and I was never allowed to teach again in public high schools, so my life took a great change I hadn’t anticipated. I wanted simply to be a great history teacher and a basketball coach, and raise my family and that would be wonderful. That was not allowed. But as a consequence it forced me to find different places to teachm, so I have taught for the most part of the last 30 years for the mentally disabled.
What do you think of the film’s director, Dennis Gansel?
It's really fascinating! Dennis and I have communicated in letter form and it was delightful. He has honoured and respected me by sending his script, he wasn’t afraid, and there has been this exchange of letters about what goes on in the classroom, what do we observe and how do we trust each other, and so it was like meeting an old brother with Dennis particularly, because we had been writing back and forth.
With Peter it was the same way. I mean we as writers we know that we are on a peculiar tilting world, and trying to understand it. And sometimes we get a little of it, sometimes we get more of it, but we are always trying to find it, what is the heart, what is life, how do we make it better. And we are on the same pursuit. So it's like being brothers together for a moment.
Well, Christian is a producer, he is a different animal. Producers are these wild source that bring us all together for a moment, they are very valuable. He is fascinating, just because he has the energy and the capacity to spend two years to talk to Sony, who else would spend two years chasing a dream? So he is a dream chaser, and we need that, and then we need the Peters and Dennises to make the dream come true.