The Tin Drum (Classic Film Pick)

Volker Schlondorff's adaptation of Gunter Grass' groundbreaking WWII novel is no less shocking in its representation of a boy named Oskar (brilliantly played by David Bennett) who, on his third birthday is given a tin drum. Oskar resolves to remain small and for the first 18-years of his life he remains the size of a 3-year-old boy, carrying around the tin drum that he protects with an unearthly shriek that will shatter glass. Resourceful Oskar is a tenacious survivor who uses his compact body-size as a perfect disguise during the Nazi's reign of terror. The Tin Drum encompasses a wing of Polish/German wartime history with an explosive cinematic nerve that contributed to a revitalization of German cinema in 1979 shared by Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
(A+) (Five Stars)