Each country or nation has its own books for and about boys. The Americans have Tom Sawyer, the Dutch have Merijntje Gijsen, Ciske de Rat, Kees de Jongen, and a lot more. The Flamish have De Witte. In previous reviews on IMDb I already described film releases of these stories. They are nice portrayals of the daily lives of our (grand)parents, and a part of the cultural heritage. Actually the Netherlands is a fine place to live if you happen to be a grass- mower. So you will not be surprised that I also watched the last (1984) version Ciske de Rat. The narrative is based on a trilogy by Piet Bakker, where the third volume is in fact a sequel Ciske de Man. Although this is actually a TV series, it contains a cast of Dutch star performers. So it tickles my sense of national pride that the foreign reviews on this page are essentially positive. It makes me bold enough to suggest that you might like the other youth films just mentioned. We change misery into TV shows. The 1984 Rat version is very much like the 1955 version - and probably like the trilogy, which I did not read. In the TV series Ciske is part of what Americans call a redneck family, and his youth is unhappy. His father is at sea, and his mother has an evil nature. She works in a public house, and lives a promiscuous life. You know the type: bikers back down from her. She goes to church to pick up men. This was a joke, but Ciske gets a knife from his father as a present, yes really, and here I am not joking. There is a gun rack on his bicycle (I exaggerate, Ciske does not own a bike). The kid stabs a school-fellow in the hand. However, the story is part of the literature of social enlightenment, and tries to offer some hope. Indeed the school teacher of Ciske becomes his legal guardian. Unfortunately, he is like the cross-eyed teacher, who can not control his pupils. So perhaps not surprisingly, he fails to prevent that Ciske kills his mother with a kitchen knife. Much later Ciske more or less rehabilitates himself by rescuing a drowning school- fellow, risking his own life. In summary, the series is rather an oppressing tale of human deficiency, more than Bakker intended. The backdrop of the thirties, the depression years and its social rebellion, adds to the atmosphere of misery. Nonetheless, if you are intrigued by the social impact on human nature, this is a film for you. Don't hesitate to leave a comment. I love it.
Review of Ciske the Rat
