Tin Drum 1979 Film Review: The Tin Drum (1979)

The film The Tin Drum (1979) is like nothing I had ever seen before. It was loud, offensive, and in your face; yet, lightly laced with an incredible depth that reflected the sentiment of a still broken nation. In the midst of the Cold War, with Berlin still divided amongst East and West, director Volker Schlondorff created a true masterpiece in a world without a true sense of hope.

There were a number of visual and cinematographic elements that I feel were harsh and really date the film. The entire production is very loud, filled with clamor at the most seemingly random times. It is definitely not afraid to offend anyone, as it is completely in your face. This is achieved most by Oskar's most notorious talent, his ability to scream so loud he can break glass. The ear piecing sound was an interesting concept, although it was done so harshly. On the one hand, it gives Oskar immense power, despite him being trapped in such a young body. He is able to break glass without even touching it, a power that he can use to bring anyone to their knees. The truth is, he brought me to mine! It was such a harsh and unexpected sound, I really did not like how long the director let it go on for. It could have been cut down and still had the same dramatic effect.

Additionally, I feel that the portrayal of Oskar's sexuality was a bit over the top. Although I understand the need to portray Oskar as a real man, the scenes of him being with his mistresses in such a raunchy fashion were definitely a bit much for my taste. He was so young looking, and it definitely shocked me. It feels like the director was trying much too hard to shock and awe an

From this perspective, I understand the need for the scenes, but they could have been played out much differently. Still, I did enjoy the notion that Oskar was being portrayed as a real German man at the time. The director was not afraid to use the image of a child doing such shocking things as snorting coke from off his mistress' belly button. In an era where there were no animated kid images to create a similar, yet fake version, the director really took a risk in portraying Oskar's sexuality. I do commend the film for being so willing to bare everything in order to make Oskar feel more like a real man, and less like the child he looked like. Personally, I wondered how awkward that situation must have been for the female actresses who played his mistresses!
Still, there were a number of very deep elements of the film that I really enjoyed. There was a very interesting gay relationship with the fathers, illustrating how progressive the film was. The two lovers seem more peaceful than any of Oskar with his mistresses. I did feel a good chemistry with the two male actors. There was a deep sense of pain in the cross dressing father, especially at the beach scene. She moves with a very noir-esque sense of grace that one would expect to find in female lead roles of the 1940s. The way she stared off in to space at the calm peacefulness of the waves crashing on shore was definitely reminiscent of old noir female leads. However, the moment is so utterly destroyed with the grotesque discovery of the horse head. This sends a clear message in the ugliness of a world that refuses to acknowledge real love, even if it is homosexual. The horse head was decaying and rotting, absolutely a disgusting site to see and with so little warning! Yet, again, the horse head scene did tend to go a bit overboard for my own personal taste. Again, I feel as if the…