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diff I n't drun
Banging ere

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By J. T. SCANLAN
The modern understanding of war is
that it is not simply a contest to the
death between the good guys and the
bad guys. As early as the World War I,
"traditional" concepts of valor and
heroism were being angrily challenged
by artists throughout Europe. Horace's
famous utterance on death in bat-
tie-"Dulce etdecorum est propatria
mori" (Sweet and fitting it is to die for
the fatherland), has only ironic
meaning for World War I poet Wilfred
Owen. In war, modern man believes,
everyone is a loser, and the absolute
horror of it all is what has become the
center of attention in art, as Herbert
Read shows in his description of the
"happy warrior": "He cannot
shriek./Bloody saliva/Dribble down his
shapeless jacket./I saw himstab/And
stab again...
Recent films have embraced this
modern attitude about war. In

Apocalypse Now, the audience is made
painfully aware as the American GI'q
try to drag away from the line of fire a
fellow soldier who, screaming madly,
spills onto the battlefield red, squirmy
muscles from his leg. Men are killed for
sport in Deerhunter. And the director is
careful to offer close-ups of the prin-
cipal game-players-as bullets pass
through their skulls. The war in the
trenches and the war, in the
jungles-though separated by half a
century-are presented in similar ways
in poetry and film, respectively.
CURIOUSLY, AMERICAN film
makers generally have been content to
present World War II as a clash bet-
ween the good guys and the bad guys.
The Americans are usually presented
in a fight to save the world for
democracy, repelling the advances of
the sneaky, slant-eyed Japanese and
the Prussian warriors of Germany. In

fact, the swastika usually serves as a
military skull and crossbones,
representing pure evil. Even Patton is
at times a romantic depiction of a man
who would sacrifice many soldiers for
personal glory.
The Tin Drum, a German movie
about the adventures of Oskar (David
Bennent), a boy who decides to stop
growing at the age of.three, is wonder-

the movie firmly in the modern
tradition.
BUT THE bleak depiction of a world
at war is not the only refreshing aspect
of The Tin Drum. It is more than just a
war movie and there are many good
comic moments. The comedy is dry and
intellectual, not at all like the recent
fare of comedy at the movie

I

I

J

David Bennent as Oskar, the boy who never grew up, in the German import
'The Tin Drum'. Volker Schlondorff's film won this year's Academy Award
for Best Foreign Film and is an arid oasis in the wasteland of summer movies.

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fully refreshing in its treatment of
World War II. Most of the action of the
movies takes place in the very centers
of conflict in Europe. Oskar is not sure
whether his father is Jan Bronski
(Daniel Olbrychski) or a man he refers
to as Matzerath (Mario Adorf). But he
sees the former savagely captured by
German soldiers at the beginning of the
war and the latter gunned down by an
Allied soldier near the end of the war.
Having decided to stop growing at the
age of three, Oskar remains a minature
human being. But he develops adult
desires, and at one point falls in love
with a lady midget from a circus. All
seems well for a while, as they enjoy
each other's company touring Europe
as members of a troupe of midgets, en-
mterttining German soldiers. But soon a
bombing raid-by Americans-snuffs
their love affair, killing Oskar's
girlfriend. War itself is the enemy in
The Tin Drum, a feature which places
Your apartment
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theater-tiring satire of Southern-
Californian culture, which defines The
Last Married Couple in America,
Serial, and much of 10. In the beginning
of The Tin Drum, Oskar offers delight-
ful narration of his adventures which is
reminiscent of the wonderful narration
in Tony Richardson's Tom Jones.
From beginning to end, the movie-to
use Samuel Johnson's phrase-"Fills
the mind." It makes us ask ourselves,
"Why does little Oskar keep banging on
his tin drum so much?" There are
many intriguing answers that could be
offered to this question, none of which
the director, Volker Schlondorff,
presses on the audience. Interpretation
is suggested, but ultimately left up to
the audience.
The Tin Drum should be praised also
for its lack of special effects.
Traditional photography more than
adequately represents the events of the
film. The narrative is not dependent on
a melodramatic display of technique as
say, Apocalypse New.
The only weak part of the movie, it
seems, is that Oskar's amusing
narration does not continue to the end of
the film. In the excellent book from
which the screenplay was taken, Gun-
ter Grass has Oskar making wry com-
ments directly to the reader
throughout. Since Grass himself
worked on the screenplay, one would
think he would try to preserve the con-
stant commentary in the movie.
But this is mere quibbling. The Tin
Drum is a fascinating film, offering
both a story and a level of acting far
superior to any other movies released
so far this summer. The Tin Drum fully
deserved the Academy Award it won
for the best Foreign Film, and it
definitely deserves to be seen by a
moinstream audience.

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