Feature film
Ciske de Rat
Guido Pieters · 1984
Synopsis
Amsterdam in the mid-thirties. Ciske Vrijmoeth, whom the street calls the Rat, grows up with his mother Marie, who mistreats him, while his father Cor goes to sea and comes home only at intervals. Expelled from several schools, he ends up in the class of Mr Bruis, the only one who wins his trust and puts him at ease. Meanwhile, his father meets a gentle woman who could change the child's life.
Context
The film is based on the first two volumes of Piet Bakker's trilogy, published in 1941 and 1943, which had already been brought to the screen in 1955. Shooting took place in the autumn of 1983, after a year's postponement, the first producer having failed to complete the financing; Matthijs van Heijningen took over the production, Karin Loomans wrote the screenplay and Frans Bromet handled the camera. Danny de Munk, aged thirteen, plays the lead and sings the film's song, which was number one in the country. A long version was broadcast in 1986 in four episodes.
Who it is for
One hundred and seven minutes in Dutch, with a great deal of Amsterdam speech. One should know that the film takes up only the first two books of the trilogy.
Prizes and reception
One million six hundred thousand admissions, one of the greatest successes of Dutch cinema, without surpassing the 1955 version; Unicef prize at Berlin in 1985.