Cinema
Ratcatcher
Lynne Ramsay · 1999
Synopsis
Glasgow, summer 1973. The refuse collectors are on strike, rubbish piles up in the yards and the rats come out. James, twelve, is playing by the canal with another boy who falls into the water and drowns; nobody has seen it, and James goes home without saying anything. His family is waiting to be rehoused in a new estate being built in the countryside. He goes there alone by bus, enters an empty house that smells of plaster, and looks out of the window at a field of wheat.
Context
The work was done in a district of Glasgow undergoing demolition, with local children who had never acted. The 1973 refuse collectors' strike was real and lasted fifteen weeks, the army eventually collecting the rubbish. The woman who directed it came from photography and put into it what remained of it: long-held shots, close-ups of faces, very little dialogue. It was shown at Cannes in the year of its release, which launched a career that has remained sparse.
Who it is for
An hour and thirty-five minutes in Glaswegian English, subtitled. The story moves by images rather than dialogue, and one must accept the silences.
Prizes and reception
Presented at Cannes in 1999, in the Un certain regard section, and awarded the prize for best first film at the British awards the following year.