Ratcatcher was a typical coming of age film, mostly comprised of younger actors and with a common growing up theme, moments of discovery and youthful fearlessness along with the urge to keep secrets which would help but are hidden in attempt to protect themselves. I loved it, getting a view the culture through a child’s perspective took me back to when I would break things and tell a fully fabricated tail of what happened just to stay out of trouble.
This was an extremely powerful film. I was amazed at how well this film honestly portrayed life in a poor area of Glasgow, while it told a story about the dustman strike. The only part of this film that seemed unnecessary or even should have been taken out was the scene where the mouse flies to the moon. Up until this scene I was extremely focused on the story and the film but once this sort of cartoonish part happened it entirely changed the mood of the story for me. The only reason for it to have been in the film was if, as we discussed in class, that at the end of the film the boy dies and then we are watching his thoughts or dreams. This flying mouse scene would give a hint to maybe what you are watching is not real but other than that I found the flying mouse scene unimportant and distracting. Other than that it was a brilliant film!
Ratcatcher really caught me off guard. The imagery and subject matter dealt with in this film was far more mature than the children and teens who were dealing with them. The death of the child in the beginning compared to the moon scene that Greg was discussing speaks directly to what I am talking about. They both are dealing with death, and a type of death that walks the grey area between homicidal and accidental. Both scenes deal with children being both the aggressors and the innocent, and both scenes are quite chilling as a result. For that I would have to disagree with Greg, though I see where he is coming from with the point of it being dealt with in a manner that is less cohesive to the rest of the film, I still really find this scene necessary to the rest of the film for the aforementioned reasons. Despite the heaviness of the moon scene, however, I thoroughly enjoyed it for it being light and free hearted at surface level.
I have enjoyed the hint of foreshadowing situations in Ratcatcher and the escape from reality for each of the characters. There are still some lighthearted feelings in this film that I enjoyed more than in Ramsay's Morvern Callar, along with seeing the situations from a child's point of view. The scene where James approached the window framing the wheat field reminded me of Andrew Wyeth's painting, "Christina's World".
I noticed that when James and Margaret Anne were together, it suits the theme of escaping from reality. Margaret Anne was constantly bullied and used as a sexual object by other neighborhood boys, but when she was with James, she was already getting away from the corrupted. What she and James did together (bathing together) were close to the idea of affections between sibling rather than romantic, and it show the innocence of their nature together (contrasting to the harsh bullying).
I fully agree with Kaileen about the mouse scene; I can understand why Greg was confused by it but I think it is an extremely important scene because it confirms that the boy kills himself at the end. The mouse was in a mice paradise after it died and after the boy drowns himself at the end we see his paradise: the beautiful house in the country where his family could live and finally be happy. I agree that its a somewhat radical way to express their deaths, but the mysterious/not-quite-sure feeling caused by representing death in these lighthearted, silly ways fits with the open-ended and unexplained actions of many of the characters throughout the film.
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Ratcatcher was a typical coming of age film, mostly comprised of younger actors and with a common growing up theme, moments of discovery and youthful fearlessness along with the urge to keep secrets which would help but are hidden in attempt to protect themselves. I loved it, getting a view the culture through a child’s perspective took me back to when I would break things and tell a fully fabricated tail of what happened just to stay out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteThis was an extremely powerful film. I was amazed at how well this film honestly portrayed life in a poor area of Glasgow, while it told a story about the dustman strike. The only part of this film that seemed unnecessary or even should have been taken out was the scene where the mouse flies to the moon. Up until this scene I was extremely focused on the story and the film but once this sort of cartoonish part happened it entirely changed the mood of the story for me. The only reason for it to have been in the film was if, as we discussed in class, that at the end of the film the boy dies and then we are watching his thoughts or dreams. This flying mouse scene would give a hint to maybe what you are watching is not real but other than that I found the flying mouse scene unimportant and distracting. Other than that it was a brilliant film!
ReplyDeleteRatcatcher really caught me off guard. The imagery and subject matter dealt with in this film was far more mature than the children and teens who were dealing with them. The death of the child in the beginning compared to the moon scene that Greg was discussing speaks directly to what I am talking about. They both are dealing with death, and a type of death that walks the grey area between homicidal and accidental. Both scenes deal with children being both the aggressors and the innocent, and both scenes are quite chilling as a result. For that I would have to disagree with Greg, though I see where he is coming from with the point of it being dealt with in a manner that is less cohesive to the rest of the film, I still really find this scene necessary to the rest of the film for the aforementioned reasons. Despite the heaviness of the moon scene, however, I thoroughly enjoyed it for it being light and free hearted at surface level.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed the hint of foreshadowing situations in Ratcatcher and the escape from reality for each of the characters. There are still some lighthearted feelings in this film that I enjoyed more than in Ramsay's Morvern Callar, along with seeing the situations from a child's point of view. The scene where James approached the window framing the wheat field reminded me of Andrew Wyeth's painting, "Christina's World".
ReplyDeleteI noticed that when James and Margaret Anne were together, it suits the theme of escaping from reality. Margaret Anne was constantly bullied and used as a sexual object by other neighborhood boys, but when she was with James, she was already getting away from the corrupted. What she and James did together (bathing together) were close to the idea of affections between sibling rather than romantic, and it show the innocence of their nature together (contrasting to the harsh bullying).
I fully agree with Kaileen about the mouse scene; I can understand why Greg was confused by it but I think it is an extremely important scene because it confirms that the boy kills himself at the end. The mouse was in a mice paradise after it died and after the boy drowns himself at the end we see his paradise: the beautiful house in the country where his family could live and finally be happy. I agree that its a somewhat radical way to express their deaths, but the mysterious/not-quite-sure feeling caused by representing death in these lighthearted, silly ways fits with the open-ended and unexplained actions of many of the characters throughout the film.
ReplyDelete