Amazon.com video review:
This Oscar-winning adaptation of Günter Grass's novel
is an absurdist fantasy about a little German boy (David Bennent) who
wills himself at the age of three not to grow up in protest of the
Nazi regime. Made unnecessarily notorious in recent years due to
overzealous censors in some parts of the United States, the film is
more startling and surreal than obscene. Bennent is very good, and
while the 1979 film doesn't meet the high standards of the best work
from the then-renaissance of German film, it has a special place in
the hearts of many who saw it upon its release. Directed by Volker
Schlöndorff (The
Handmaid's Tale). The special-edition DVD release has a
widescreen presentation, director commentary, isolated musical score,
English subtitles, and production notes. --Tom Keogh
