We are the wave

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Television series
Original title We are the wave
Country of production Germany
original language German
Year (s) since 2019
Production
company		 Rat Pack Film Production ,
Sony Pictures Film and Television Production
Episodes 6 in 1 season ( list )
genre Youth series , drama
Director Anca Miruna Lăzărescu ,
Mark Monheim
idea Dennis Gansel
script Jan Berger ,
Ipek Zübert ,
Kai Hafemeister ,
Thorsten Wettcke ,
Christine Heinlein
production Dennis Gansel
music Heiko Maile
Initial release November 1, 2019 on Netflix
occupation

We are the wave is a German-speaking youth - Drama Series by Dennis Gansel , loosely based on the novel The wave of Morton Rhue from 1981 is based. The series was released worldwide on November 1, 2019 on the video-on-demand service Netflix .

action

The series takes place in the fictional German town of Meppersfeld and tells the story of a group of young people who decide to fight against social grievances together.

Lea, a high school student from a wealthy family, is bored and frustrated with her affluent life. She doubts the life plan of her parents, who consider themselves cosmopolitan and environmentally conscious, and feels that she would like to do more herself to work for a better world. When Tristan, a new classmate, comes to Meppersfeld and makes friends with the outsiders Zazie, Rahim and Hagen, Lea's interest is aroused. Tristan cleverly uses the personal circumstances of the very different teenagers to swear them to a common fight against grievances and injustices. Rahim and his family, for example, are repeatedly victims of racist attacks. In addition, the family threatens to lose their apartment because an investor wants to renovate the building in luxury. Hagen's family lost their economic existence after waste sludge from a local paper mill contaminated organic farmers' fields. Zazie is bullied by classmates and feels oppressed by sexist gender stereotypes to which she does not correspond. After a brief hesitation, Lea also joins the group, which meets in the afternoon on an abandoned factory site to plan the next steps together.

Driven by Tristan, the actions of the group, which will soon be called "The Wave", are becoming increasingly radical and risky. What begins as an idealistic and playful uprising against the establishment soon takes on a threatening dynamic of its own. Central is the conflict between Lea, who believes in peaceful forms of protest and resistance, and Tristan, who considers Lea's optimism to be naive and is vehemently reluctant to open the group to other members.

In the course of the story it becomes clear that Tristan has personal motives for his radicalism and is planning a terrorist action against a large arms manufacturer (his mother was killed during an aid mission in Africa by soldiers who had come into possession of German weapons through illegal arms exports). In the final, Lea can prevent Tristan's attack at the last second. At the same time, with a media-effective campaign, she managed to hit the arms manufacturer who has violated numerous legal requirements.

production

On April 18, 2018, Netflix announced the series, which at the time still had the working title The Wave , as part of its See What's Next event in Rome. The shooting for the first season lasted from February 11, 2019 to May 26, 2019, and took place in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate . a. in Cologne , Hürth , Leverkusen , Düren , Euskirchen , Neuss , Wuppertal , Solingen , Gelsenkirchen , Remagen , Bonn and Hagen .

The series is produced by Rat Pack Filmproduktion in cooperation with Sony Pictures Film und Fernseh Produktion and is managed by producers Christian Becker , executive producers Dennis Gansel , Jan Berger and Peter Thorwarth as well as producers Amara Palacios and Eva Gerstenberg. Scripts were written by Ipek Zübert, Kai Hafemeister and Thorsten Wettcke under the head authorship of Jan Berger . Anca Miruna Lăzărescu and Mark Monheim are directing the film .

Episode list

No. title Director script
1 Do you know that feeling? Anca Miruna Lăzărescu Jan Berger
2 What's wrong with you? Anca Miruna Lăzărescu Jan Berger, Ipek Zübert
3 What do we do next? Mark Monheim Jan Berger, Kai Hafemeister
4th You destroy everything! Mark Monheim Jan Berger, Kai Hafemeister, Christine Heinlein , Thorsten Wettcke , Ipek Zübert
5 The 99%! Anca Miruna Lăzărescu Jan Berger, Kai Hafemeister, Thorsten Wettcke, Ipek Zübert
6th This is the only way Mark Monheim Jan Berger, Kai Hafemeister, Thorsten Wettcke, Ipek Zübert

reception

The release of the trailer a few days before the start of series production caused controversy. It was feared that the series could glorify left-wing radicalism . The Süddeutsche Zeitung sees the accusation as invalid, however, as the protagonists of the series are increasingly questioning "what they are actually doing".

The press response to the start of the series was mixed. The Germany radio assessed the series as "refreshing political mainstream production" and "significantly successful than other German Netflix productions". There are good arguments for a second season, "if you keep up with the times". The MDR described Wir sind die Welle as an "original and excitingly narrated series that features many more female characters than the movie back then". The Berliner Zeitung stated: "Dramaturgically, authors and directors have done everything right: Drama and tension rise, driven by pulsating electronic sounds, from one episode to the next, because the actions are becoming more and more risky" and stated that the outcome offered plenty of starting points for a second season . The industry servicequote meter stated that the series was able to “develop a similar pull as the original” and praised the narrative approach of the new adaptation: “Because in a time when the world of fiction is (felt) dominated by new editions, it is beneficial to see if Creative in principle only selected elements, actually, just take the core idea of a substance and from this develop something completely new. "the time offshoot Ze.tt praised the timeliness of the series and concluded that one is a spectator" glad that at least part of the wave understands how ineffective radicalism is and instead trusts in the peaceful protest of the masses. This not only adds depth to the plot , it also gives We Are the Wave the potential to enrich today's school lessons. ”The New York Times summarized that the short series dealt with tension and leadership in a group. But she also investigates the question of what happens if a wave turns into a tsunami .

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, on the other hand, described the plot in the series as “a revolt without a theoretical foundation” which, apart from the off-screen remark “You all had enough time - and wasted it”, lacks profundity. We are the wave is a “very German product” and with regard to the previous film adaptations of the novel Die Welle , one has to state that it “finally ebbed away after half a century”. The Filmstarts portal made it clear that the series, in contrast to the novel Die Welle, takes a completely different approach. The starting point is no longer a school project, but the young people's own drive to rebel against the prevailing grievances. The final conclusion describes the series as flat: "The insubstantial and over-constructed processing of actually so relevant topics quickly fizzles out the effect of the promising material." The Stuttgarter Nachrichten attested the series the lack of momentum and determination. The program magazine TV Spielfilm also gave a negative assessment; the series is the "spectacularly failed implementation of a great idea". Although the start has potential, with episode four "not only the wave gets out of hand, but also the series". In the end, the series is "less Die Welle 2019 than a radicalized version of Die Lümmel von der Erste Bank ".

The right-wing conservative weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit judged the series as “left-wing green propaganda”, suggesting to its young target group: “If it goes against Nazis, everything is allowed”. The political monthly, which is close to the New Right , strangely free, criticized the television series for a “kitschy romanticization of extremist terror” and called the group “Die Welle” “climate-friendly Netflix NSU ”.

Prices

  • 2020: Nomination for the Grimme Prize in the Children and Youth category

Trivia

  • In the series world there is a fictional party called NfD, whose logo is based on that of the AfD . The lettering is white on a blue background and has a red upper arm as a background. This aroused, especially in AfD circles, criticism of the political orientation of the series. The speech of the NfD mayoral candidate, which is shown at the beginning of the first episode, is based heavily on a speech given by the AfD member of the Bundestag Markus Frohnmaier in Erfurt in October 2015 . Among other things, Frohnmaier said at the time: "When we come, it will be tidied up, then it will be mucked out, then politics will again be made for the people and only for the people - because we are the people , dear friends!"
  • The story of the Lemmart family's organic farm is also based on a real background. For example, between 2005 and 2008, large quantities of toxic paper sludge were declared as compost, delivered to farmers in Baden and spread on their fields. As a result, the groundwater was significantly polluted by pollutants.
  • The legal violations of the fictitious weapons company are based on a true background: In 2019, the Stuttgart district court sentenced two former employees of the weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch to suspended sentences for illegal arms exports and the group itself to a heavy fine.
  • For the showdown of the episode “The 99%”, one of the most elaborate stunt scenes in German film history was filmed on a section of the disused Jackerath motorway triangle . On two consecutive nights, five-lane highway traffic in two directions was simulated for the scene in which the five members of the wave cross a highway on foot. Two stunt coordinators, six stunt drivers and 30 extra vehicles, including two trucks, were in action. On stunt doubles was completely eliminated, the actor played the scene only himself. The two directors Anca Miruna Lazarescu and Mark Monheim staged the sequence together, with the performer Lăzărescu directed and Monheim took action directing.
  • The action alliance Fridays for Future , founded by the Swedish student Greta Thunberg , whose actions are referred to in some reviews of the series, only developed into a global phenomenon in early 2019. The first nationwide school strike took place at the end of January 2019 and the first global climate strike on March 15, 2019. The series, on the other hand, was announced in April 2018.
  • One of the locations was the FS Karton paper mill in Neuss .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Netflix hires “CdrB” actress for “Welle” series . In: dwdl.de . October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  2. ↑ "We are the wave": start date for the next German Netflix series . In: wunschliste.de . October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  3. ↑ Die Welle: Next German Netflix series is based on the hit novel . In: serienjunkies.de . April 18, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  4. ^ The Wave (AT) . In: crew-united.com . Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  5. ↑ We are the wave: Series start in November on Netflix . In: serienjunkies.de . October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  6. ↑ Maresa Sedlmeir: Against the rules. November 4, 2019, accessed December 3, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Netflix series "We Are the Wave" - ​​Refreshingly political mainstream production. Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Series “We are the wave”: How far can protest go? MDR.DE, accessed on November 13, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Torsten Wahl: Against the rules: Netflix series "We are the wave". November 1, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 .
  10. ↑ «We are the wave» - from old to new into (similarly) good. quotenmeter.de, October 31, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Sophia Zessnik: Climate change and right-wing extremism: "We are the wave" shows what moves young people. In: ze.tt. Retrieved November 14, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Best Movies and TV Shows on Netflix Canada in November , The New York Times, November 1, 2019, accessed December 4, 2019.
  13. ↑ Oliver Junge: Extinction Rebellion for Dummies , FAZ.net, November 2, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019.
  14. ↑ Markus Trutt: Flat, flat, “We are the wave”: That's why the new Netflix series is not worth it . filmstarts.de, November 1, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019.
  15. ↑ Thomas Kingenmaier: Somebody has to do something now , Stuttgarter Nachrichten, November 4, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019.
  16. ↑ TV Spielfilm, issue 23/2019, p. 207.
  17. ↑ jungefreiheit.de: Puberty-sweaty revolution-romanticism. In: Young Freedom. Retrieved November 13, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Series "We Are the Wave": Here comes the climate-friendly Netflix NSU: Kitschy romanticization of extremist terror , ef-magazin.de , November 21, 2019
  19. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Grimme Prize: "Skylines", "Der Pass" and Joko and Klaas are nominated - DER SPIEGEL - Culture. Retrieved January 16, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Netflix series "We Are the Wave": Trailer causes heated political discussions , TZ.de, October 25, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019.
  21. ↑ BZ of November 1, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019.
  22. ↑ Youtube video for the speech from October 2015 , accessed on November 15, 2019.
  23. ↑ Henry Bernhard: “When we come, we will clean up!” Deutschlandfunk.de, October 25, 2019, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Udo Pollmer: Paper sludge as fertilizer. deutschlandfunkkultur.de, June 9, 2017, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Arms manufacturer: Heckler & Koch has to pay 3.7 million euros for illegal arms exports. handelsblatt.de, February 21, 2019, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  26. ↑ "We are the wave" (Netflix): stunt coordinator reveals: "That was the most lavish scene in my career". derwesten.de, October 31, 2019, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Fridays For Future | Parents For Future. Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Paper mill makes it big on Netflix , rp-online, November 14, 2019, accessed December 4, 2019.