

A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.
Acting
Jürgen Vogel's chilling charisma as teacher-turned-leader.
Direction
Gansel makes fascism look weirdly... fun? Then horrifying.
Writing
Tight script based on real 1967 California experiment.

Director
Dennis Gansel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Ron Jones's real 1967 'Third Wave' experiment in Palo Alto—he stopped it after five days when students showed Nazi-level devotion.
Germans made this; Americans made the original. The remake asks: has Germany earned the right to warn others?