Ratcatcher (film)

Ratcatcher is a 1999 drama film written and directed by Lynne Ramsay. Set in Glasgow, Scotland, it is her debut feature film and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

The film won its director numerous awards including the Carl Foreman Award for Newcomer in British Film at the BAFTA Awards, the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival and the Silver Hugo for Best Director at the Chicago International Film Festival. Ratcatcher grossed $888,817 worldwide. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection.

Synopsis
Ratcatcher is set in Glasgow in 1973. The city, despite its Victorian grandeur, has some housing schemes that are among the poorest in western Europe. Many had no running hot water, bathing facilities, and indoor toilets. The city is midway through a major re-development program, demolishing these schemes and re-housing the tenants in new modern estates. Social problems are exacerbated by the binmen going on strike creating additional health hazards and a breeding ground for rats. The main character, James, is a 12-year-old boy, growing up in one of these housing schemes that is gradually emptying as tenants are re-housed in newer developments. Meanwhile all that those that remain can do is patiently wait to be re-housed like James and his family, (two sisters, one older, one younger, his mum and heavy-drinking father).

Plot
James's friend Ryan Quinn is being forced to put on his gum boots to go to visit his father who is in prison. But Ryan chooses to play with James instead, and runs off while his mother is not looking. Ryan meets James at the canal and drowns during some rough-house play. James bears much of the blame for not having raised the alarm, but he believes his inaction has gone unnoticed. Ryan's family are re-housed. On leaving day, Ryan's mother gives James the pair of brown sandals she'd bought for her son on the day of his death.

Sensitive James tries to come to terms with his guilt for the death of his friend while trying to make sense of the insensitive aspects of his environment. One day he takes a bus to the end of its route on the outskirts of Glasgow. He explores a new housing estate under construction. Standing in front of a kitchen window in a half-built houses, he wonders in awe at the view: an expansive field of wheat, blowing in the wind and reaching to the horizon. James climbs through the window and escapes into the blissful freedom of the field.

James befriends a girl, Margaret Anne, whom he tries to help after her glasses are thrown into the canal by the local gang. James and Margaret Anne become friends and find comfort in each other's company. Both find some relief, James from his home environment and Margaret Anne from the local gang's abuse. One of James' friends, Kenny, receives a pet mouse as a birthday present. After the gang throw the mouse around in the air to make him "fly", Kenny ties the mouse's tail to a balloon, and the film shows it floating to the moon. Then, Kenny's mouse joins a whole colony of other mice frolicking on the moon. Kenny later falls in the canal and is rescued by James' father, who briefly becomes the local hero.

Though the British Army eventually arrive to clean all the rubbish from the neighbourhood, James realises that his situation will most likely never change. He throws himself into the canal. A brief scene is shown of James and his family moving into a new neighbourhood.

Cast

 * William Eadie as James Gillespie
 * Tommy Flanagan as George Gillespie
 * Mandy Matthews as Anne Gillespie
 * Michelle Stewart as Ellen Gillespie
 * Lynne Ramsay Jr. as Anne Marie Gillespie
 * Leanne Mullen as Margaret Anne
 * John Miller as Kenny
 * Thomas McTaggart as Ryan Quinn
 * Jackie Quinn as Mrs. Quinn
 * James Ramsay as Mr. Quinn

Reception
Ratcatcher received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 42 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus is that "Critics find Ratcatcher to be hauntingly beautiful, though its story is somewhat hard to stomach." Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, has a "generally favorable" score of 76 based on 18 reviews.