Charles Aznavour

A young engineer goes to visit his cousin at a tubercular sanatorium in the Swiss Alps intending to stay three weeks, but ends by staying on for seven years to observe the disturbed personnel and patients. The unfolding exchanges between the protagonists are meant to present a microcosm of the society of pre-World War I Europe.

Oskar is born in Germany in 1924 with an advanced intellect. Repulsed by the hypocrisy of adults and the irresponsibility of society, he refuses to grow older after his third birthday. While the chaotic world around him careers toward the madness and folly of World War II, Oskar pounds incessantly on his beloved tin drum and perfects his uncannily piercing shrieks. An adaptation of Gunter Grass's acclaimed novel, characterized by surreal imagery,...