1/22/10

Re-visiting Ramsay's RATCATCHER

I had mentioned Ratcatcher before. I saw most of it again and I still think it's a great movie.
Though the movie is a realistic drama based on Ramsay's own childhood (like most first-feature works), it has this great absurd scene that breaks the acceptable and crosses into the realm of fantasy. It's done to describe what's on one of the kids' mind, he speaks about sending his mouse (snowball) to the moon for a better life... Ramsay creates this imaginary subsequent life for the mouse based on documentary and pseudo documentary images (the mouse leading a prolific, happy life). The caricature, unrealistic sequence dares to break the overall gloomy, real, and harsh mood of the work and it works brilliantly.