THE TIN DRUM
Directed by: Volker Schlöndorff.
Produced by: Franz Seitz, Anatole Dauman & Eberhard Junkersdorf.
Written by: Jean-Claude Carrière, Franz Seitz & Volker Schlöndorff, based on the novel by Günter Grass.
Director of Photography: Igor Luther.
Edited by: Suzanne Baron.
Music by: Maurice Jarre.
Released by: Criterion Collection.
Language: German.
Country of Origin: Germany/France. 142 min. Not Rated (definitely would be R).
With: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach & Daniel Olbrychski.

DVD Features - Disc One: New digital transfer. Commentary by: Volker Schlöndorff. New & improved English subtitles with restored image & sound. Disc Two: Deleted Scenes with commentary by Schlöndorff. "Volker Schlöndorff Remembers The Tin Drum." Interviews of Volker Schlöndorff, David Bennent, Jean-Claude Carrière & Mario Adorf, Schlöndorff & Günter Grass. "The Platform," a 1987 recording of Grass reading as excert from his novel. Excerpt from original screenplay's unfilmed ending with introduction by Schlöndorff. "Banned in Oklahoma" documentary by Gary D. Rhodes. Production sketches, designs & promotional art. Trailer. English subtitles.

This dark fantasy shared the 1979 Palme d'Or with Apocalypse Now and it is easy to see why. It's also apparent why The Tin Drum has been flustered with limited infamy. It is inspirational as it is disturbing. Set in 1920s Gdansk, three-year-old Oskar (David Bennett) decides to carry his striped tin drum with him wherever he goes as a symbol of protest against the continually hypocritical and dehumanistic middle class. If the drum is ever taken from him, he releases a scream so horrifying glass literally shatters. Willing himself never to grow up, he remains physically a little boy. The film's political backdrop is equally complex when his city is taken over by the Nazis.

The film succeeds largely because of Bennett's performance. He portrays Oskar with an unsettling clarity rare among child actors. Oskar bears witness to his mother's suicide, and it is Bennett's ability to mitigate the viewer's horror that makes this scene, as well as the rest of the film, so painfully watchable. The Tin Drum, however, is not for the casual film fan. In 1997, a fundamentalist group in Oklahoma City prosecuted the film as child pornography, going so far as stealing copies off of video store shelves. While this claim will seem ludicrous to the vast majority, the film can come off as shockingly graphic to an audience desensitized only to violence.

DVD Extras: The most enjoyable of the overloaded features is a 21-minute montage entitled “Volker Schlöndorff Remembers” that features storyboards, on-set photos, and touching sound bites from the director. Schlöndorff is interesting to listen to here, so it is surprising that he provides a relatively dry commentary track on both the film and the disc's collection of odd deleted scenes. The unused ending from the original screenplay is a nice addition considering most of the other features are either promotional or produced in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City controversy. Gary D. Rhodes's documentary short, “Banned in Oklahoma,” is included and covers every inch of the scandal, ultimately reasoning why The Tin Drum will only resonate more and more as time passes. Michael Belkewitch
July 19, 2004