The Wave poster

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The Wave

2008 · Movie · 107 min
B

MEANRANK

75/100

Averaged across 11 ratings · 672.4K votes

Every rating

Platform pages last read 29 September 2026. IMDb’s figure comes from IMDb’s own data file, which we re-read about once a month.

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51–91 out of 100

Split

Lowest is Criticker on 51, highest is Rotten Tomatoes viewers on 91.

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A high school teacher's experimental lesson on autocracy goes too far. To demonstrate how fascism can take hold, he starts a movement called "The Wave" within his classroom. The experiment quickly gains a frightening momentum of its own, spilling out beyond the class as students embrace the group's identity and power, with dangerous consequences.

Details

Director
Dennis Gansel
Based on
The Third Wave
Released
13 March 2008
Country
Germany
Language
German
Runtime
107 min
Budget
$7.5M
Box office
$32.4M
Awards
0 wins, 2 nominations

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