Johan Valk

An elderly judge crosses paths with a young delinquent who looks exactly like his dead son. He decides to help him where he can but the boy betrays his trust by escaping prison and turning to crime once again. He flees to the house of the judge who supplies him with an alibi for a robbery turned murder. The judge knows he is putting his career at stake but he feels it is worth it for the boy’s sake.

In the small Dutch village of Lagerheide, two members of the local brass band get into a fight, forcing the band to be split in two. The two hotheads and their followers are doing their utmost to sabotage each other’s attempts at becoming the band who will represent the village at the upcoming brass band competition.

“Ciske de Rat” belongs to the Dickensean “little man’s hard life” model and tells a deceptively simple story about a boy in modern Netherlands. Persecution, loneliness, adults’ hostility, fear, mixture of obstinacy and tenderness, and even an imprisonment. Excellent camera movement and delicate portraying of Ciske’s fragile soul put this film out of merely historical context and ensure its place in the history of great cinema.