Ciske de Rat (1984 film)

Ciske de Rat is a 1984 Dutch drama film based on the novel by Piet Bakker. Ciske is played by 13-year-old Danny de Munk who also sang the title song Ik voel me zo verdomd alleen ("I feel so damned alone") which scored a number one hit in the Netherlands. In 1985 the film won a UNICEF Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. With more than 1.5 million admissions it was one of the most successful Dutch films of that year.^[1] Two years later, an extended version of the film was turned into a four-episode TV series.

Storyline[]

Ciske, nicknamed the rat, grows up in 1930s Amsterdam as a street-kid bereft of parental love; because his seaman father Cor is largely absent, he is forced to live with his mother Marie who abuses him. Ciske has been expelled from a few schools till he joins Master Bruis' class; Bruis manages to win Ciske's trust and make him feel at ease. Meanwhile, Cor begins a relationship with laundry lady Aunt Jans, fuelling Ciske's hope of a better future than at home with his mother. Marie refuses to cooperate in a divorce, not to mention Bruis' application for guardianship. Instead she chooses to destroy a present (a copy of Gulliver's Travels) that Ciske got from his one friend Dorus who was terminally ill. Ciske retaliates by grabbing a knife and stabbing his mother to death. Ciske is sentenced to detention, struggling to survive among elder inmates. Upon his release, everyone has gone off him; even Aunt Jans, by cancelling her wedding because she does not want to build a future on someone else's loss. All ends well when Ciske saves a bullying classmate from drowning; he is welcomed back at school. Cor and Aunt Jans make amends, and decide to marry after all.

Cast[]

• Danny de Munk - Ciske Vrijmoeth / Ciske de Rat
• Willeke van Ammelrooy - Mother Marie
• Herman van Veen - Master Bruis
• - Uncle Henri
• Peter Faber - Father Cor
• Rijk de Gooyer - Detective Muyskens
• - Aunt Chris
• - Aunt Jans

See also[]

• Ciske de Rat (original novel and musical)
• Ciske de Rat (1955 film)

References[]

External links[]

• Ciske de Rat at IMDb

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