Review: ‘Rat Film’ is a Scathing Indictment of Historical Racism
Theo Anthony’s experimental documentary uses rat exploitation as a metaphor for the treatment of minorities in Baltimore
This review is going to be difficult. Not only because of the film itself and its challenging approach, but because of its sprawling content and its focus on horrendous treatment of the poor.
Rat Film is, on its surface, a documentary about the treatment of rats in experimentation by a series of doctors. But it is also about the way that cities are built with the intention to cut off and kill the poor, about classism and, really, about how power corrupts.
It’s quite abstract, both in content and in style. It’s hard to approach, full of jittery electronic sounds, modernity fighting against history and deeply uncomfortable subject matter. Anthony is wild and unkempt, ambitious and bold, from the film’s beginning to its end. We see an almost dystopian, apocalyptic future cut to between moments which focus on the 20th century history of Baltimore and the clear racism of its design.
