Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gritty yet beautiful coming-of-age film too dark for kids.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
What's the Story?
Against the historical backdrop of 1973 Glasgow, Scotland -- where a months-long garbage worker strike has led to inevitable piles of garbage and vermin infestations -- James (William Eadie) is a boy of around 12 living in a housing project where families are waiting to be moved to less deplorable housing. In a nearby canal, a neighbor boy named Ryan drowns while roughhousing with James. James lives with the guilt of this event while trying to survive the harsh and desperate realities of his day-to-day life. He finds brief moments of happiness through riding the bus to the end of the line, where he finds a house under construction in a field, and through spending time with a slightly older girl the juvenile delinquents in the neighborhood use for sex. As James and his family wait to be transferred, and as the garbage strike drags on, James struggles to find any sense of hope in all of this despair.
Is It Any Good?
RATCATCHER is an unforgettable film that manages to find tiny moments of beauty in the midst of tremendous poverty and despair. The subject matter is bleak -- the drowning death of a boy, a garbage worker strike, a housing project slowly being vacated -- and there are no heroes. Even James's Da (Tommy Flanagan) who is heralded for saving a boy from a near-drowning death is a drunkard who hits his wife. But all of this ugliness makes the small moments of joy for these characters (often found in escape fantasies) all the more memorable.
The terrible (and often disgusting) realities of a garbage strike and a housing project lacking in acceptable living conditions is presented so convincingly you feel like you can almost smell the garbage piling up. The acting is flawless, as is the direction. While the sex and violence makes this not for kids, Ratcatcher is a timeless film, and definitely one of the best films of the 1990s.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the poverty of a Glasgow housing project in 1973 is presented. How does the film convey the desperation, the violence, the boredom, and despair of families struggling through this difficult time?
How is this film similar and different from other films where the struggles of poverty is a central focus?
What are some differences between movies made in Hollywood and independent and/or foreign films?
Movie Details
- In theaters : October 13, 2000
- On DVD or streaming : September 10, 2002
- Cast : Mandy Matthews , Tommy Flanagan , William Eadie
- Director : Lynne Ramsay
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s)
- Studio : Criterion Collection
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : History
- Run time : 94 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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