Unforgettable Great Film, Should Be Required Viewing Everywhere

The 1981 television movie The Wave is about an unforgettable history lesson and is itself an unforgettable lesson. Ben Ross, a high school history teacher played by Bruce Davison, is teaching about Nazi Germany when a student, Lauree, played by Lori Lethin, and several others question how the Nazis could execute so many civilians without the German people noticing, or at least afterwards claiming that they didn’t know. It is very interesting that Mr. Ross gives the number killed as 10 million. Usually only the 6 million Jews who died are counted and the other 4 million don’t get a mention. Of course, the German non-combatants who died as a result of the war are never addressed at all. Much more could be said on related subjects but I’ll stick to reviewing this particular film.

Mr. Ross is troubled at being unable to answer the question, and does a lot of studying on Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. He then introduces a new movement to his students titled “The Wave.” He convinces them that by Strength Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, and Strength Through Action, the students can improve themselves and each other. He introduces a symbol for The Wave and an arm salute for members. He also introduces a number of rules and encourages recruiting other students into The Wave and turning in those breaking the rules.

Lauree is at first enthusiastic, and her father says he is in favor of anything that gets kids to listen, but her mother expresses reservations. Soon individual thought patterns change and individual personality begins to disappear as students are sucked into the groupthink of The Wave. It seems a blessing to Robert, played by Johnny Doran, who has been the class scapegoat and is now accepted. He begins to hero worship Mr. Ross. Lauree becomes a target when she writes a couple of school newspaper articles criticizing The Wave. She and her boyfriend David, played by John Putch, who sees The Wave as beneficial to his football team and other efforts, get into such a violent argument that David shoves her to the ground and nearly hurts her. They then see The Wave as a problem and confront Mr. Ross, who says he will deal with it in his own way. Mr. Ross’s wife and the school principal also express concern.

Mr. Ross calls a meeting for Wave members, which by now consists of most of the school. He tells them it is a national movement and at a certain time their national leader will address them. Lauree and David manage to crash the meeting, where everyone is dressed in blue shirts and some are sporting armbands. Little do they know Mr. Ross has a horrible surprise in store which will make a deep and lasting impression on them for the rest of their lives. This last scene is dramatic and unforgettable. It is explained that the entire story is based on a true event, an experiment which took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during the first week of April 1967 made by high school history teacher Ron Jones.

The only violence is a fistfight and the shoving of Lauree. Distressing scenes are footage of Nazi concentration camps including a large number of starved humans and human remains.

EVERYONE needs to see this movie NOW, ESPECIALLY Americans, with particular emphasis on the whole MAGA cult. They need to see what is going on before it proceeds to any “final solution.”