The Tin Drum stands as a monumental exception to the rule that a great novel rarely inspires a great film. Young Oskar Matzerath, who grows up witnessing the rise of Nazism at the eve of World War II, decides at age 3 to stop growing -- effectively shutting out the world and communicating only by banging on his tin drum. Volker Schlondorff's epic unfolds with cinematic artistry, psychological insight, political vision and symbolic richness.