Ratcatcher (1999)

Grim, But Music and Dance Do Provide Some Relief
"Ratcatcher," the Scottish director Lynn Ramsey's 1999 debut film, comes trailing black clouds behind, described as a grim and disturbing coming of age picture. There's truth to that. It's set in a Glasgow slum, a down-at-heels project, or council estate as they'd call it, that's way too close to a fetid, apparently no-longer-used canal: one of the children central to the plot calls it "creepy," and that'll certainly do as a description.

The film is a Franco-British co-production. It won eleven awards. It's slow-paced, but does show the existence of innocence in dreary, gritty poverty. Ramsey wrote, as well as directed it, and it does have a social-realist agenda. It centers, in a leisurely way, on one particular family, that of James, who appears to be teetering on the brink of adolescence, during the summer of the nationwide Scottish garbagemen's (or dustmen's, as they'd call it) strike of 1973. The streets are garbage-strewn, and black garbage bags pile up menacingly, attracting vermin. The plot, set among the city's white, native-born proletariat -- their Scottish accents are so strong that the American version comes with needed subtitles, isn't exactly cheerful, either. It's true tartan noir, but it does show that life goes on as it follows several of the project's children closely.

These children are neglected, bored, without recreational outlets, and are crueler to themselves, each other, and the animals in their world than some of us might wish: then again, they reflect their upbringings, don't they?

But there are some lighter moments, some of that bloody-minded humor that leavens Scottish life. Characters hope for better futures, and show each other the odd tenderness. There's a black and white, film school sequence, apparently meant to be comic, of mice on the moon. Finally, music and dance provide much-needed relief, just as they do in real life. James and his sisters watch a video of the sexy Welsh singing star of the 1960s, Tom Jones, singing "Pussycat, Pussycat." Later, the children joyfully dance with their mother, an abused housewife, to the Chordettes'1960's American bubblegum hit "Lollipop, Lollipop." And for those moments, their troubles are forgotten.

Hi, Snowball
In almost every essay that you will read concerning Ramsay's debut feature length film will make mention of the beautiful opening sequence which depicts a young boy playing amongst his mother's lace curtains. This scene which could easily be quite harmless and smile inducing instead has a quite ominous tone to it. The boy, whose name we soon learn is Ryan Quinn, is completely wrapped within the curtain and moves it a very slow fashion as if he was a corpse that was slowly returning to life. To add an even darker tone to this image, the music playing is quite haunting. Although a bit disturbing, the viewer quickly finds him or herself drawn into this almost surreal world at least until Ryan Quinn's mother smacks him on the back of the head thereby destroying the ambiance of this fascinating scene. This surrealistic scene and its destruction by harsh reality make up the overall framework of this almost heartbreaking film.

Soon after having his head smacked, Ryan Quinn and his mother disembark to go see his father, but instead of going along, Ryan Quinn runs off to meet his friend James at a canal. The two friends soon begin a harmless fight from within the water, but after Ryan Quinn dunks and holds James' head under water a bit too long, James angrily pushes the younger boy and runs away, but Ryan Quinn does not follow. He instead drowns within the murk. A short time later we see James' mother looking out the window at the drowned boy's body and she is relieved at the sight of her own son. She had thought it was he who had died. However, a bit of James did die that day. The weight of guilt bores down on his narrow shoulders throughout the duration of the film, and one wonders if he can truly overcome it.

Ratcatcher takes place in Glasgow, Scotland in the year 1973. A year in which all of the trash collectors went on strike and piles of black trash bags piled up until they completed dominated the scenery. Unlike many films that star a child protagonist, Ratcatcher does not attempt to give the viewer a childlike, naïve glimpse of poverty that might be experienced by a child, but instead depicts the harsh reality of such a life and how it can leave scars upon the heart. In several scenes scrapes and bruises are shown on children and young adults and one waits to see them fester and turn the younger folk into twisted adults. This does not mean that there are no brighter moments within this film, but they are indeed few and far between and often become nothing more than dust.

The acting in this film is quite good. William Eadie does a spectacular job in his depiction of James and some points, such as when he is with Ryan Quinn's mother, truly grip the heart because of the guilt ridden expression on his face. Tommy Flanagan as "Da" is also quite good. Combine this with a truly haunting soundtrack, and you have one stellar film.

Quite beautiful...
This is a beautiful, poetic masterpiece about a lonely, isolated boy living in rural Scotland. Despite the fact that his surrounding are as bleak as they come (he lives in a Scottish "ghetto", and there is a garbage strike on at the time, so debris and rats are piling up everywhere), the film manages to find beauty in all the garbage. There isn't much of a narrative, but the film is more of an impressionistic piece than a narrative film. Lynne Ramsay, the director, has made a great debut film. She has a visual sense that most directors lack. Many directors (David Gordon Green for example) attempt to make impressionistic films, yet their films end up being incoherent and sloppy. This film isn't. Ramsay's choice of music is superlative. The use of Nick Drake's Cello Song is especially good. Even though I hate English language films with subtitles, I had to watch the film with subtitles. The Scottish accents are so thick here that the film would make no sense without the titles. Ramsay's follow up film to this, Morven Callar, was rather disappointing and a bit of a mess, but here she really shows potential. Hopefully her next one will be good.