Synopsis

Gdansk, 1927: On his third birthday, Oscar Matzerath (played by the great David Bennent), a very premature boy for his young age, decides not to grow any more in order to deny himself to the adult world. Nevertheless, he continues to grow highly quick-witted while his libido turns out to be equally unstoppable. One thing Oscar always carries with him is his very own tin drum. Loudly, he uses it to protest against the rise of the Nazis and other adversities of life. And whenever there is someone trying to take his toy away from him, he goes the extra mile: he just cries so shrilly that even glass shatters. Only after the end of the war, some things change.

Volker Schlöndorff’s masterful adaption of the long-time seemingly unscreenable novel by Günter Grass addresses as one of the first German movies the entanglement of the middle class in the rising of National Socialism. The Tin Drum is an extremely complex and brilliantly casted movie; powerful, opulent and grotesque all at the same time. It is a combination of realistic storytelling and sprawling fantasies; of horror, Heimat- and sex film; complemented by elements of slapstick and parable and also of heroic drama and political satire. In 1979, the movie was awarded the Golden Palm. Additionally, only one year later, it was honoured with an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

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2014 marks the 100th anniversary of World War I and the 75th anniversary of World War II. For this occasion, Branko Lustig has curated an anti-war film retrospective for the LET’S CEE Film Festival. The selected films are meant to both remind us of the crimes of the past as well as send a clear signal against violence, fascism, racism and discrimination.

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