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The Tin Drum

Original title: Die Blechtrommel · Turkish title: Teneke trampet

“A savage, sweeping epic of society in chaos.”

1979 · 2 h 22 min
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
DramaWar

Cast

David Bennent Mario Adorf Angela Winkler

Credits

Written by: Günter Grass

Plot

Oskar Matzerath, a boy in Danzig between the wars, decides on his third birthday not to grow any further and plays his tin drum, and when anyone tries to take it away, he screams so that glass shatters. He watches the rise of Nazism and the war from below the adult table. Volker Schlöndorff's 1979 film, based on Günter Grass's novel, won the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Sinekatalog’s take

Volker Schlöndorff's adaptation of Günter Grass is a bold, grotesque fable of a boy refusing to grow up under Nazism. David Bennent is unforgettable in a strange, powerful and sometimes shocking film.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.4 / 10 (28,225 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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