Ciske the Rat

Directed by Wolfgang Staudte

With Dick van der Velde, Kees Brusse, Jenny van Maerlant, Riek Schagen and Stine Lerou

“Ciske de Rat” belongs to the Dickensean “little man’s hard life” model and tells a deceptively simple story about a boy in modern Netherlands. Persecution, loneliness, adults’ hostility, fear, mixture of obstinacy and tenderness, and even an imprisonment. Excellent camera movement and delicate portraying of Ciske’s fragile soul put this film out of merely historical context and ensure its place in the history of great cinema.