British Film - Ratcatcher (1999) Clip 1

In 1970s Glasgow James, a young boy from an impoverished family, is involved in the drowning of another boy in a dirty canal. James keeps his silence, but the incident weighs heavily on his mind.
In this scene, James attempts to escape the streets around his tenement home that are piled with rubbish because of a dustmen's strike. This scene reveals he is just as preoccupied with dreams of freedom, as he is of guilt.
How does this film reinforce the representation of the 1970s, and of Scotland, as 'bleak'?
How is James's experience of the countryside similar to other British films you have watched?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Ratcatcher
• British
• Film
• Social
• Realism
• Collective
• Identity
• Scottish
• Experience

[superstrut75]

Nowadays most parents wouldnt even let their kids go on a bus themselves. bloody shame the way society has went. i was lucky enough to have had the same level of freedom as James in the film and i am thankful for that.

[HelloKellen]

this movie is just so beautiful, compositionally and story wise. every frame and sound blows my mind.

[BettyPelican]

Thank you for posting that. One of the most beautiful sequence I've ever seen.