BERLIN — Teutonic helmer Dennis Gansel has hit the jackpot with chilling drama "Die Welle" (The Wave), a pic which asks the question: could Germany once again fall under the spell of a dictator?
Helped by a tidal wave of media coverage and buzz from Sundance, pic generated a stellar B.O. tally of $3.8 million from 280 screens in its opening weekend. It was second only to "Horton Hears a Who" in the charts, pulling in 300,000 filmgoers.
Pic is set in contemporary Germany and was adapted from a novel written by Morton Rhue about a 1967 experiment in a California high school. The book is required reading in German schools.
"I read the book in high school and I haven't stopped thinking about it since," Gansel tells
Variety . “Germans like to think that their intensive study of the horrors of the Third Reich makes them immune to another dictatorship.
"Even though we've learned so much about the Nazi era, it's a mistake to say something like that could never happen again here. It could happen anywhere. It's nonsense to say we're immune."
Pic, made for $7 million and starring Juergen Vogel as a charismatic teacher, was sold to 20 territories after screening at Sundance. At a standing room only screening on the fringes of the Berlin Film Festival in February, more than 1,400 crowded into the headquarters of the Social Democrat party to see it — three times as many as had been expected.
"Group dynamics can be seen everywhere," Gansel said. "Even if you put 50 actors in a room, it won't take long for different groups to form. Most of the time they're benign. But put someone charismatic in there with sinister intentions and anything is possible."
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