The Tin Drum

(Die Blechtrommel, Volker Schlöndorff, West Germany/France/Poland/Yugoslavia 1979, 142 min., 35mm, German w/subtitles)

Academy Awards at 90. Armed with a toy drum and a voice that can shatter glass, young Oskar Matzerath (David Bennent) navigates pre–World War II Germany from the eyes of a child. Repulsed by the passiveness of society and raging against the hypocrisy and reckless behavior of the adult world, he miraculously prevents himself from aging past the age of three. A successful, surreal adaptation of Günter Grass’s groundbreaking novel, The Tin Drum won both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.