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Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999]
 
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Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999]

DVD ~ William Eadie
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.98 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this item with Sweet Sixteen [DVD] [2002] DVD ~ Martin Compston

Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999] + Sweet Sixteen [DVD] [2002]
Price For Both: £7.96

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  • This item: Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999] DVD ~ William Eadie

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Sweet Sixteen [DVD] [2002] DVD ~ Martin Compston

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999]
88% buy the item featured on this page:
Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999] 4.2 out of 5 stars (6)
£3.98
Sweet Sixteen [DVD] [2002]
6% buy
Sweet Sixteen [DVD] [2002] 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)
£3.98
Morvern Callar [DVD] [2002]
3% buy
Morvern Callar [DVD] [2002] 4.0 out of 5 stars (6)
£6.57
Restless Natives [DVD] [1985]
2% buy
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Product details

  • Actors: William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, Michelle Stewart, Lynne Ramsay Jr.
  • Directors: Lynne Ramsay
  • Writers: Lynne Ramsay
  • Producers: Andrea Calderwood, Barbara McKissack, Bertrand Faivre, Gavin Emerson, Peter Gallagher
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Pathe Distribution
  • DVD Release Date: 1 Sep 2003
  • Run Time: 96 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0000AV3G7
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,578 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Special Features
English
Region 2


Synopsis
Lynne Ramsey's bleak, beautifully photographed debut unflinchingly portrays life in a Glasgow housing project during the 1973 garbageworkers strike as seen through the eyes of 12-year-old James Gillespie (William Eadie, in a soulful debut). As the film opens, James is playing with a friend near a filthy canal behind the projects when his friend tragically falls into the water and drowns. James chooses not to tell anyone that he saw the boy die, knowing that he will be implicated. This secret, along with his increasing lack of communication with his drunken football-loving father, causes James to become increasingly withdrawn, fantasizing about his family moving to a newly constructed apartment complex at the city limits on the edge of a beautiful, golden field of grain. As the garbage piles up and rats take up residency around the complex as if they were new tenants, James finds temporary solace in his friendships with Kenny, an odd boy who loves animals, and Margaret Anne, a teenage misfit who lets the local boys use her body as they wish.
While undeniably grim, RATCATCHER manages to combine unusually rich imagery and spare use of dialogue to create a realistic portrait of a simultaneously beautiful and cruel world. Punctuated with unexpected humor, Ramsey's film is subtle and rewarding.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe you had to be there, 30 Sep 2007
By fionnghal (Paisley, Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ratcatcher [DVD] [1999] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
I think possibly C Myers just doesn't "get" this film - possibly (and apologies if I'm wrong) thru not having witnessed the events of 70s Britain. Not just for Glasgow was this an appalling period in UK history - almost worse than depression eras before it simply because it promised so much in terms of the "better life" but only for the few. You must take the film as a metaphor for all that was going on at the time. Of course the characters are not fully developed - that was what happened to people like them at that time - no realisation of their full potential. Being under-developed in the film is part of the metaphor, as is the "dreamlike quality" - all these people had was a dream of a better life which was unlikely to be fulfilled. As is the disjointed feel - that was what their lives were - a seies of disjointed events with no direction. And what was the "bike" to do? These kids didn't have nannies or childminders; they looked out for themselves. What she is doing in the film is SURVIVING - that's what it was like. The tale is harrowing because it is a harsh picture of reality as it was then (yes, I WAS there). it is doubly harrowing because so little has changed for so many people. As a secondary school teacher I am dealing on a daily basis some thirty years on with the fall-out of lives such as those portrayed in the rat-catcher. I use the film as a discucssion point at school - horrifically so many of my pupils recognise aspects of their own lives in it.

I rate "The Ratcatcher" highly because it depicts in an artistic yet realistic way, the realities of life then (and sadly life now). Because it is essentially a metaphor, it is much more powerful than "Sweet Sixteen". My pupils would for the most part agree.

And they all get the metaphor.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT, 22 Dec 2004
Most definitely poetic and cinematically captivating! It by far exceeds standards of British cinema and conveys a story with style. I did not witness the period of rats and rubbish in the 70's but I found myself still relating to the content. The film is extremely emotive! I give it 8/10.............6 is worth watching!
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sensitive portrayal of urban life, 12 Oct 2006
By Mrs. S. K. Goffin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This was a sensitive portrayal of urban family life in the 1970s. The characters were for the most part sympathetic. The film had an almost dreamlike quality, with poetic imagery in the form of the local canal, rats and black dustbin bags. Although the story was essentially a sad one, it was not morbidly sad.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Just beautiful!
Such an under-rated film, a simple heartachingly wonderful story. I could run a load of cliches to describe it, liken it to any boys story, without the misery of an Angelas... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ms. E. L. Carroll

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Contrary to one of the reviews here, although the characterisation was not superficially distanct that does not entirely matter. Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. Waite

1.0 out of 5 stars Disjointed and awful
This is one of those movies that goes out of its way to be artsy. The story is about a young boy in Glasgow during a Binmans' strike. Read more
Published on 2 Jul 2007 by C. Myers

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