- Awards
- 3 wins
Photos
Storyline
Featured review
near perfection
A near perfect documentary that benefits immeasurably from the free-wheeling personality of Larry Hand and his cheeky asides to the off-screen filmmakers as he vies for yet another term as mayor of Leichhardt, an inner-west council in Sydney. For all of the dirty tricks and conspiring characters, it's the comedy that kept this viewer coming back many times to see it: councillor Trevor ruminating on the unimportance of it all, the get-together at the local swimming pool in celebration of council week, Hand leaking stories to the Sydney Morning Herald ("off the record"), and of course the outwitted Labor boys fuming upstairs in the council building while they await the never-to-arrive "rats" of the title. Every scene a gem.
This great film deserved much wider international release. Its absence on Oscar night in favour of US-oriented material was yet another weary example of how uninformed, onanistic and complacent the Academy can be.
R.I.P. co-director Robin Anderson (d. March 2002). Quiet Aussie legend.
This great film deserved much wider international release. Its absence on Oscar night in favour of US-oriented material was yet another weary example of how uninformed, onanistic and complacent the Academy can be.
R.I.P. co-director Robin Anderson (d. March 2002). Quiet Aussie legend.
helpful•30
- ma_teng
- Apr 28, 2002
Details
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
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