The Wave: Book vs. Film

I just watched the movie "Die Welle", which is a German adaption of the popular novel "The Wave" by Todd Strasser. Having read both the book and now seen the film, I found it interesting to see the differences. I am not sure how successful the book was in the US, but in light of the story (if you haven't read the book, go read one of the many synopses) and its relevance to the recent German history, this book has been used as a book to read and analyse in German highschools all across the country.

I must say, I liked how the makers of the film tried to put the film into a German and contemporary context, i.e. German high school life is rather different than a US high school. Furthermore did they discuss how the most googled contemporary person was Paris Hilton (not sure if that is true, but it puts it into a contemporary context). I quite like that since I am not a fan of the whole keeping 100% to the script kinda guy.

I was, however, disappointed by the ending. In the book, everything is resolved by the teacher telling them, how they behaved exactly the way they never would and showing them a picture of Hitler. In the film, they felt that it was necessary to have one of the students being killed. I am not sure why they inserted this detail, but I found the story compelling enough without adding such a dramatic detail. The actions throughout the film were dramatic enough for my liking. Having to add a death to the story to strengthen the drama was the wrong move in my opinion.