Rat Film

First and foremost a well-crafted short film, Theo Anthony's Rat Film paints a stark portrait of the similarities between Baltimore's handling of rat populations and the discriminatory housing practices they employed in the early 20th century. From an artistic standpoint, the visuals and sound have a certain cadence that works very well—the entire piece flows nicely. The subject matter and the comparisons drawn are very powerful. "Scored by Dan Deacon" should be all the reason you need to watch this. However, there are some elements that I found confusing. I didn't really understand the "video game" metaphor; certainly it plays well with the electronic undertones, and perhaps is a comment about the rather flippant way we think about race and politics nowadays. All in all, a great film.

I'm still scratching my head. Watch 4 completely different, unrelated movies, stitch them together... you have Rat Film. It's at best, an abstract art piece. In summation: 5% a documentary, 20% horrific rat killing snuff, 10% literal Google maps street-view panning, 65% bizarre music and artistic visuals.

Artsy. Beautiful weaving of vermin and city planning and the social politics behind them.