"Oskar Matzerath is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his 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. His tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighbourhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time." Trailer for the brilliant 1979 German film 'Die Blechtrommel' - based on the novel by Günter Grass. (Who revealed in 2006 that he served in the Waffen-SS.) The movie was controversial because it depicted a young boy sleeping with women.