Tin Drum

Year: 1979

Grade: B+

Country: Germany

Director: Schlöndorff

Review

pretty great film. set in the 20s-40s, tin drum is an allegorical film of a german boy (oskar) who, at age three, receives a tin drum which he won’t let anyone take from him. also at age three, he throws himself down the stairs and decides to stop growing. he also has the ability to break glass with his screams. it bends reality a bit, but it isn’t a sci-fi picture or anything like that, instead these stretches of reality are useful allegorical devices. the lead is played by eleven year old david bennent who really does carry the film. tin drum is great in all respects, but if the lead wasn’t as good as he is then it would have really suffered. there’s really too much to say about the allegorical and symbolic aspects of the film, but suffice it to say that the story and symbols are intertwined rather well. the visual style and town in which the film is set seem like something out of a fellini film…amarcord comes to mind. even though oskar is a teenager throughout most of the film, he appears to us, and those in the film, as a three year old boy; and in reality his life experience is more aligned with that of a child. as such, he becomes a neutral observer of social and political events as they unfold. for the most part oskar is able to slip in and out of situations unnoticed, thus facilitating his role as observer. the film can justify this because he appears to be only three years old, and is thus thought of as an innocuous part of the scenery. being three years old offers one untold access. this is reinforced by the fact that throughout the film people virtually ignore him – talk as though he wasn’t in the room, ss officers push him aside when dealing with others, etc.