“Something sinister and cruel but I had to see it.”
Ralph Fiennes, Richard Ayoade, and Rupert Friend star in a third Roald Dahl Adaptation by director Wes Anderson: The Rat Catcher. Perhaps my favourite of the four, this disquieting story introduces us to Fiennes’ furtive Rat Catcher.
The Rat Catcher himself combines serious skill with suspect delivery to produce a man who keeps you on edge; a man with an appetite for murder and an uncanny resemblance to the animals he is hunting. Fiennes is entirely believable as a man who kills vermin for a living. Ayoade and Friend are increasingly nervous in his presence, moving from indifference to respect to fear over the course of a few minutes. Neither can stop watching with increased fascination and disgust as the little rat man stalks his prey, until the final uncompromising moment when they realise the lengths he is willing to go to reach his goal.
This story reveals Dahl’s penchant for dark undertones that lead you to question who is right and who is the one in the wrong. ‘This is a horrible, deadly, disgusting thing, awful. . . do you want to see?’ is still a universally asked question.
Continuing to use the theatre as a jumping-off point for the stories, Anderson produces depth through layering multiple flat painted boards interspersed with 3D models or sets. Stagehands provide the actors with everything they need. A few actors rotate through multiple roles, disappearing into each one and reappearing again later with an entirely different mindset. Much like in his retelling of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson uses animation for the hapless rats, perfectly employed for maximum reaction.
The Rat Catcher is unrelenting in its build up to Fiennes’ final trick. The atmosphere is that which permeates maybe an ancient rural village undergoing great change. It gets a bit Wicker Man in parts. We also learn about the uses of rat’s blood. None of which are true, I hope. . .
