Not devoting so much attention to the well-known literary background of the film, I would like to point out three vital aspects which discern this piece of art.
First, this is a very physiological work, full of intense, sometimes disgusting scenes (the frog soup drinking or the famous episode with eels) that will strike a blow into your sensual perception. However, we should bear in mind that European and, especially, Eastern European art simply HAS far deeper traditions of portraying those "ugly" and "dirty" natural physiological processes such as urinating, puking, spewing sputum and so on, in which The Tin Drum abounds and which therefore will leave more lasting impact on the Western viewers who belong to sterility-centred cultural environment.
Second, the film is not an easy one to watch and comprehend, as it totally screws up your brain, not fitting into any of genres you would like to stick it. The most precise genre perhaps would be called a grotesque gradually being won over by a tragedy. The first scene where we meet Oskar is rather light and comical one, as he looks to us from the womb with a gaze full of suspicion and sarcasm. Yet his character is not a role of a comic dwarf, he is a metaphor for the prosecutor of mankind and his time. Another scene includes his mother gobbling raw fish, because she has turned out to be pregnant again so grotesque a scene, you feel amused. In a minute, she commits suicide. So it is impossible to watch the film in a stable, consequent mood; in the end, The Tin Drum leaves you disharmonic, disillusioned and unbalanced, just as you should feel about life itself.
Third, we come to the obvious conclusion that The Tin Drum as all remarkable works of art must be viewed as a symphony of symbols and metaphors. The character of the little drummer Oskar evidently is the most powerful one, as he embodies the true attitude we each have for ourselves somewhere deep inside. We all feel so small, so willing to be pitied and protected, so not-belonging to the dreadful world outside, so humiliated by our comrades, so naive and so terribly lonely. And in the same time our inner selves are just as cruel and self-centred as Oskar is, and we hold so tight to our little tin drum (should it be our surroundings, people, money, status, looks or anything else which we believe to be constituting our identities from), and we yearn so keenly and so unsuccessfully to return back to our mothers' wombs and hide forever from the fierce and violent meaninglessness of this life.
First, this is a very physiological work, full of intense, sometimes disgusting scenes (the frog soup drinking or the famous episode with eels) that will strike a blow into your sensual perception. However, we should bear in mind that European and, especially, Eastern European art simply HAS far deeper traditions of portraying those "ugly" and "dirty" natural physiological processes such as urinating, puking, spewing sputum and so on, in which The Tin Drum abounds and which therefore will leave more lasting impact on the Western viewers who belong to sterility-centred cultural environment.
Second, the film is not an easy one to watch and comprehend, as it totally screws up your brain, not fitting into any of genres you would like to stick it. The most precise genre perhaps would be called a grotesque gradually being won over by a tragedy. The first scene where we meet Oskar is rather light and comical one, as he looks to us from the womb with a gaze full of suspicion and sarcasm. Yet his character is not a role of a comic dwarf, he is a metaphor for the prosecutor of mankind and his time. Another scene includes his mother gobbling raw fish, because she has turned out to be pregnant again so grotesque a scene, you feel amused. In a minute, she commits suicide. So it is impossible to watch the film in a stable, consequent mood; in the end, The Tin Drum leaves you disharmonic, disillusioned and unbalanced, just as you should feel about life itself.
Third, we come to the obvious conclusion that The Tin Drum as all remarkable works of art must be viewed as a symphony of symbols and metaphors. The character of the little drummer Oskar evidently is the most powerful one, as he embodies the true attitude we each have for ourselves somewhere deep inside. We all feel so small, so willing to be pitied and protected, so not-belonging to the dreadful world outside, so humiliated by our comrades, so naive and so terribly lonely. And in the same time our inner selves are just as cruel and self-centred as Oskar is, and we hold so tight to our little tin drum (should it be our surroundings, people, money, status, looks or anything else which we believe to be constituting our identities from), and we yearn so keenly and so unsuccessfully to return back to our mothers' wombs and hide forever from the fierce and violent meaninglessness of this life.