I just finished watching a German movie called “Die Welle” (“The Wave”). I am still shaken up about it.
It all begins with a high school teacher who has been assigned to teach “Autocracy” during “Project Week.” He signed up for teaching “Anarchy,” but the principal gives that topic to someone else, so he’s quite disappointed about the assignment. He decides to make the best of it by really showing kids what a dictatorship really is like, after the kids had expressed how a dictatorship would never happen again in Germany: “We are way past that point.” Well, apparently the teacher does too good a job at mimicking this particular government type: the kids get hyped about an all-equal movement were there are no classes and they are all united. They create a symbol for themselves, give themselves a name “The Wave,” they get a uniform, and even a secret salute. The movement starts getting out of control.
The problem is that the teacher, who is supposed to be responsible and the voice of reason, gets caught up in the movement as well. He feeds off the kids’ energy, and ends up craving their attention and seeing himself as the leadership symbol of “The Wave.”
The movie does a fantastic job at demonstrating the reality of a dictatorship: it begins with unhappiness, and it gradually creates a new environment based on antagonism, chaos and greed. As a population, we want things to get better, and all it takes is to find a leader who promises to give us what you need. Once the crowd has a common cause, the leader moves on to create animosity between parties. This enhances the sense of unity and makes the “members” completely idolize the leader. This is why dictatorship is usually coupled with a cult of personality, where the leader uses the media to portray him/herself as the savior of the people. From this point forward, the leader has full support to do anything s/he wants. Need to change the laws? Well, people want a change, so the leader has the people’s explicit permission to go ahead without further debate. In the meantime, crime, unemployment and other economic indicators worsen. A dictatorship is fed by chaos. The more chaos, the more power is given to a dictator. For example, suppose the economy is suffering a down turn. This gives the dictator the power to simply take over operations: if the private companies are not doing their job, the government will take their business and do it for them (and the crowd applauds the efforts to turn things around). Since, as we said before, the dictator has the support of the people, he has already been given the power to make changes as he pleases.
It is all downhill from there: crime, unemployment, economic instability, political persecution (treason as a common charge), expropriation of assets, elimination of private property, gradual loss of basic civil rights, etc.
Dictatorship does not happen overnight. This form of government is a textbook case of the boiling frog metaphor. It is easier than we all think it is.
I am actually freaked out by this concept, since my family and I have experienced this first-hand. It is difficult to watch movies like these and not get a deep emotional reaction.
Check out another review at MovieCritic.com.au
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