Monday Movie: The Wave

Dennis Gansel's The Wave sees a non-comformist teacher at first disappointed to find himself teaching students about autocracy instead of anarchy - until he hits on a great classroom actitivity to bring the realities of a dictatorship home. In the process he unintentionally creates a quasi-fascist movement that begins to gain popularity throughout the school. But when confronted with the realisation that he's inspired a cult of personality with himself as its focus, can he really be trusted to do the right thing?

Inspired by real events in an American school in the sixties, The Wave, as well as being very well put together drama, also succeeds in getting across both the allure and danger of totalitarianism.