Die Blechtrommel

"A savage, sweeping epic of society in chaos."

Apr 11 1980 R 2h 22m
Drama, War

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

Plot

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

Written by

Günter Grass, Jean-Claude Carrière, Volker Schlöndorff

Directed by

Volker Schlöndorff

Cast

David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Germany

Production Companies

GGB-14, Jadran Film, Artemis Film, Neue Bioskop Film, Hallelujah Films, Film Polski, Argos Films, Franz Seitz Filmproduktion

Languages

Italiano, Polski, Deutsch

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 18 wins & 6 nominations total

Trailers
The Tin Drum (1979) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]
Featurettes
Three Reasons: The Tin Drum
Scores
# of Votes
26,741
Average Rating
7.4 out of 10
Metascore
63
Popularity
NA