The Tin Drum VHS

Grotesque but supremely intelligent and complex allegory is still one of the most philosophical and shocking works of post-war Germany. Little Oskar, fully cognizant of society's stupidity and hypocrisy even while angrily sitting in the womb, defiantly wills himself to stop growing after the age of three years old. He communicates his protests by drumming incessantly on a toy drum and shattering glass with his screams, as the the foreboding political climate gives rise to the fascist terrors of Nazi Germany. A nightmare, made palatable by it's magic-realism style, equal parts satire and absurd horror film, the use of over-cranked photography, war newsreel footage, and disturbing imagery (including the second most famous horse head in cinema) all added to make an unforgettable cinematic product showing a postwar generation with a traumatic identity crisis. This Oscar winner might be best suited for those familiar with films like A Clockwork Orange, Eraserhead, Fanny and Alexander, and the films of Peter Greenaway, David Cronenberg, and Alejandro Jodorowsky. Extras on this Blu-ray contain several interviews with particularly insightful analysis.

A WARNING TO PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN!This film contains scenes of the main character, who's a minor child, engaging in sexual activity with an adult woman . . . who later gets pregnant and has his child.WHAT PARENT WOULD EVEN CONCEIVE OF CONSENTING TO THEIR CHILD DOING SCENES LIKE THAT?In a nutshell, I found this film absolutely disgusting because of the sex scenes involving the boy and also freaky because of the expression on his face when he does his glass shattering screams.It scares the hell out of me!It took me the blink of an eye to decide I didn't want this piece of garbage in my house.Parents . . . don't let this film's title trick you into thinking it's an innocent little family film like HOME ALONE, A CHRISTMAS STORY, or MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET.It's not!The sex scenes in this film take the child friendliness away. They are very explicit and could be disturbing . . . especially to children who are being or have been sexually abused.

I wish I could unsee some of the stuff I saw. The movie made no attempt to explain the motive behind the characters'actions, and therefore, it was like watching a very tedious and disturbing trainwreck full of people I couldn't care less about. I cannot believe this movie got so many awards back in the days. Dear Movie Gods, may that pedantic cinematographic era never return!

One of my fav films in the world. Have bought many copies of this flick to share. but this is the best because the booklet inside is a wealth of info on the makings of the movie as well as info on the orginal novel. HUGE amounts of info in that booklette. Great deal for this Gunter Grass fan.

I had to watch this film for a German Cinema class I took at a local university. The film is disgusting, basically child p*rn. Filthy! The director should have been thrown in jail for this garbage. Worst movie ever, morally repugnant.

I was in the odd mood for a German movie and this certainly lived up to my idea of a strange German movie. And, like all the other German movies I’ve seen, it will now haunt me the rest of my life.

What in the actual f... just ...give it a go. It’s a pretty lengthy film, and insanely interesting at that. Good if you’re looking for something out of the box, and have the time to sit through it.

I know this movie from years back, and it's a great, modern classic. I purchased the Criterion edition as I really like their fantastic editions of classic movies. I never got the chance of viewing this one though, as the blu-ray case and artwork was damaged. Had to return it for a refund, even though I would have liked it exchanged for an unharmed copy. All in all, too bad it was damaged but still got the refund so I guess I'll try ordering it again some time in the future.

Volker Schlöndorff’s 1979 adaptation of Günter Grass’ near-unique novel of two decades earlier brings the novel’s multifarious qualities to life to impressive effect. Of course, it is difficult, if not impossible, to translate (in any sense precisely) the idiosyncrasies, including the streams of consciousness, present in Grass’ prose into visual form. What we do get, however, as we follow David Bennent’s precocious, Danzig-born, drum-obsessed, boy, Oskar, who has chosen not to grow beyond his 3-year old form, from his birth in 1924 to the immediate aftermath of WW2 in 1945, is a cinematically kaleidoscopic tale, mixing elements of satire, surrealism (these two elements assisted by Schlöndorff’s use as co-writer of frequent Bunuel collaborator, Jean-Claude Carrière), farce, tragedy, allegory, historical epic and romance. Oskar the character remains something of an enigma – his ‘permanent child state’ representing rebellion against the adult world, as exemplified in his attachment to his beloved drum(s) and in his use of his 'singshattering’ power, but Schlöndorff (and Grass before him) use the boy as observer, provocateur and narrator, whose child-like nature, to an extent, masks Oskar’s position in relation to ‘the elephant in the room’ – the growth of Nazism. Certainly, the film (and Oskar) takes a clear position on the dichotomy here between Germany and Poland, as represented respectively by Mario Adorf’s cook with Nazi affiliations, Alfred Matzerath, and Daniel Olbrychski’s Polish-Kashubian, Jan Bronski, both with claims to be Oskar’s father, via Angela Winkler’s mother to Oskar, Agnes.Schlöndorff carries over the novel’s controversial themes of sexuality (involving 'the child’ Oskar) and religion – Grass had been accused of being both pornographic and blasphemous – even if toning down some of the novel’s content. The area where Schlöndorff’s film becomes more tangible than the novel is in the depiction of the evil nature of the Nazi regime. This is, of course, partly down to the simple visual representation – groups of Sieg Heiling people marching emblazoned with red, white and black swastikas, plus a number of stunning set-piece scenes, including the storming of the Polish post office in Danzig where Jan works and the satirisation, courtesy of Oskar’s disruptive drumming display, of a Nazi rally. In addition, a more personal condemnation is felt via the fate of Charles Aznavour’s’s cameo depiction of the pragmatic, Jewish toyshop keeper, Sigismund Markus, one of the few adults (in addition to his mother) to whom Oskar seems to relate on a human level. Elsewhere, Schlöndorff gives us a seemingly endless stream of impressive visual sequences, including that of Oskar’s grandmother hiding his future grandfather under her four skirts, Oskar’s birth, the 'singshattering’ of windows, lightbulbs and (even) Oskar’s teacher’s spectacles, the, admittedly rather gruesome, scene of eels emerging from a decapitated horse’s head (with its Catholic religious guilt connotations for Agnes), Oskar’s seduction of Katharina Thalbach’s shop-worker Maria and Alfred’s confrontation with marauding Russian soldiers.Acting-wise, Schlöndorff’s cast is consistently good throughout. Those playing characters who connect with Oskar are, perhaps, the most memorable, in particular, Winkler, Olbrychski, Aznavour and Fritz Hakl as Oskar’s fellow 'little person’ and manager of a theatrical troupe, Bebra. Bennent as Oskar has, arguably, relatively little real acting to do, but Schlöndorff’s choice of the actor was still something of a masterstroke, with the close-ups of cinematographer, Igor Luther’s camera, revealing Oskar’s wide-eyed visage to communicate a wide range of emotions. Schlöndorff had discussed initial ideas of using an adult actor in the role – Dustin Hoffman and Roman Polanski were mooted – but his ultimate choice was undoubtedly the right one. Comparator films are difficult to pinpoint, but as an episodic, but epic, narrative, with eccentric characters and (as above) elements of satire, surrealism, farce, tragedy, allegory, historical epic and romance, I would cite the cinema of Emir Kusturica, specifically 1995’s Underground.

I expected to receive this as a DVD but unfortunately the film is on Blu Ray and only disc 2 is DVD. I guess I should have been more careful with the title (DVD + Blu ray) - (I don't have a blu ray player). So I guess it is not their fault but I think it could have been clearer.

Poor picture resolution compensated for by the utterly compelling film, its cheapness also helping

Excellent film

Love this film and need to watch it once every 15 years... :-)