Rats

This documentary from Morgan Spurlock is unlike other films I've seen of his. He does not appear in the movie at all nor is there any narration. Considering the subject, I can understand both decisions.

The film is all about rats. Much of it centers on the health risks caused by the creatures as well as the impossibility in completely eradicating them. This part of the film was creepy and disgusting but also very informative and interesting. There also were portions about cultures that eat rats, folks that revere them and folks using terriers to hunt them. The film takes the viewers from New York City to New Orleans to India to Southeast Asia to the UK.

So should you watch it? Well, yes...provided you aren't squeamish. You'll see lots of dead rats, rats die and a few decomposing mammals. Not pleasant stuff, granted. But still, despite the creepiness and awfulness of some of the material, it's worth seeing and very well made.

The cinematography is great. Lots of interesting footage, always something to be watching. But don't be mislead into thinking you're actually going to learn something about rats besides fear mongering we've all heard before. Seriously, they lay on the "mood" HARD. Constant droning and thumping horror movie music playing throughout, stock rat noises playing whenever there's one on screen, flashing still images of a rat's open mouth and "attacking" you. That sort of thing.

I love rats, but that's not why I dislike this movie. I'm not illusioned to the reality of them and I was really looking forward to viewing this documentary. I was hoping for a movie going through the history of rats and the relationships we've had with them as humans, the history of disease, as pets, their biology. I guess overall, I was hoping for something with substance and would leave me with new and interesting information on these largely misunderstood animals. Instead you get a movie that is exactly the opposite of that: encouraging fears and assumptions.

I'm not saying don't be careful of wild rats, but adding a horror score and "shock stills" is completely unnecessary and juvenile. Imagine doing this about say, a documentary about great white sharks or wolves. This helps nothing and only encourages us to be afraid.

I wouldn't mind a rat horror flick, but don't dress it up as substance.

The documentary "Rats" would be excellent if not for its creators' mania for manipulative music and sound effects of horror films. They are out of place in a work with scientific pretensions. The images and information provided by this production of Discovery Channel are already powerful as to dispense with that unnecessary sonic frippery. The research made in different places of the United States, India, Cambodia and the United Kingdom leads to eloquent and sometimes overwhelming sequences that show how the plague is assumed in the world, from extermination with poisons to worship of the rats as sacred beings, passing through the consumption of the rodents as tasty gourmet dishes and their dog-like hunt as if they were foxes. In the last sequence what struck me was that Indian rats revered in a temple were thin and vegetarian-looking... But in spite of the foreign elements added to the sound track it is a good work that deserves to be seen. Recommended.

I really liked this new film by Morgan Spurlock. Personally I feel the whole horror-aspect (and the fact that some people seem to take offense to it)is a little overblown. For me the filmmakers created just the right amount of tension to tell a fascinating story about creatures that secretly live among us. They - the rats - are like us in many ways. Their way of living mirrors our own societies in many ways. And as we are told they will probably outlast us. Personally I saw the humans in this film as the bad guys. The film makes this pretty clear I think. All in all a very enjoyable film that will make me think twice about going out to diner.

So, this just popped up on Netflix, I was pretty excited thinking this was the Rat film I had been waiting for by the same people who did Black Fish. If you haven't seen Black Fish please do! Now, this film was not the one I had been waiting for at all. Made by Discovery channel I thought it would still be insightful about the animal, instead it's a film glorifying the fear of an animal that already has a horrid reputation in the world. They made the rat into nothing short of a Hollywood monster that's the reason for all the bad in the world. It's plainly disgusting. A simple ploy to make more people afraid of the small mammal and seek out to kill more of them. Discovery channel has turned into nothing short of fear mongering bully.