The Tin Drum

The Tin Drum

(Volker Schlondorff, 1979)

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Summary: Dated but still powerful and controversial, Volker Schlondorff's frenzied 'The Tin Drum' is a welcome release on DualFormat.
 

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Volker Schlondorff 'The Tin Drum' shared the Golden Palm at Cannes with Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now'. Both are extraordinary films of their time, but 'The Tin Drum' hasn't aged quite as well.

But the fact that it refuses to grow up is the narrative drive at the very heart of this film, now remastered on DVD/Blu-ray DualFormat with the theatrical and director's cut available for the time in the UK.

We follow Oskar, a young boy who refuses to grow up remaining the same age through the 20s, 30s and 40s as the Nazis take Germany to hell and back.

He's disenchanted with the effects of maturity, and forever tied to his tin drum that he beats in the face of this world gone mad, his innocence constantly challenged by war, growing up, abuse and sex.

Indeed, this film is probably more remembered for its controversial child sex implications but Volker Schlondorff maintains such an incredible visual and audio style, you can't help but be compelled. We view the world as a child world, in all its frenzy.

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