Tin Drum, The (1979)

aka’s: Die Blechtrommel/Le Tambour/Blaszany Bębenek

Danzig in the 1920s-1930s. Oskar Matzerath (David Bennent), son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from birth, he decides on his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him on the eve of World War II. He refuses to join society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at the time. But almost nobody listens to him, so the catastrophe continues. Also stars Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler and Katharina Thalbach. (In German language, with English subtitles).

TRIVIA: David Bennent had a condition which caused him to grow very slowly. When he appeared in this film at age 11, he was 1.14 m (3′ 9″) tall. He continued to grow to 1.55 m (5′ 1″) and was still growing well into his thirties.