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The Tin Drum

7.1

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Original title

Die Blechtrommel

Year

1979

Running time

142 min.

Country

Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Director

Volker Schlöndorff

Screenwriter

Jean-Claude Carrière, Franz Seitz, Volker Schlöndorff. Novel: Günter Grass

Cast

Music

Maurice Jarre

Cinematography

Igor Luther

Producer

Co-production Germany - West Germany (FRG)-Germany-France;

Genre

Drama | II World War. Nazism. Cult Movie

Movie Groups

Günter Grass Adaptations

Synopsis

Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War II. So he refuses the society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time. However, (almost) nobody listens to him, so the catastrophe goes on...

Rankings Position

#59 Best German Movies of all time
#99 Best Movies and TV Series about the Second World War

Awards: 1979: Oscar: Best Foreign Language Picture

1979: Cannes Film Festival: Palme d´Or (Golden Palm) (Ex-Aequo with "Apocalypse Now")

1979: César Awards: Nominated Best Foreign Film

1978: German Film Awards: Best Film

1980: Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Foreign Language Film

1980: National Board of Review (NBR): Best Foreign Language Film. 2 nominations

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Critics' reviews

"The Tin Drum is, in fact, almost everything anybody could ask a film to be. It is strikingly original and continuously surprising."

Charles Champlin: Los Angeles Times
"The movie invites us to see the world through the eyes of little Oskar (...) My problem is that I kept seeing Oskar not as a symbol of courage but as an unsavory brat (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"Schlöndorff's Tin Drum, like most adaptations of great literature, serves mostly as a fascinating but superficial gloss on material that just doesn’t lend itself well to visual storytelling."

Mike D'Angelo: AV Club
"Beautiful to look at, but shot with a cruel and unerring eye, it gives no quarter to the German people for their complicity in events (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

William Thomas: Empire
"The Tin Drum is likely to be remembered as another conspicuous example of why the urge to film certain books ought to be resisted."

Gary Arnold: The Washington Post
"The story it tells is so outsized, bizarre, funny, and eccentric, the movie compels attention

Vincent Canby: The New York Times

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Ranking Lists Position

43 My Favorite German Movies (31)

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The Tin Drum

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