American Tails (and Whiskers)

If the presidential campaigns haven't turned you off completely to Washington, James Felter's RATS, an examination of the four-legged vermin plaguing the nation's capital, might do the trick. By its conclusion, you will know more than you ever wanted to about this urban blight, thanks to an unblinking view of life up and down the food chain. It is a decidedly un-Disneyfied true-life adventure, shot largely at night where the rats come out to feast at the alley trash bins. Felter score points right away for tongue-in-cheek humor by setting this documentary saga on Willard Street, but don't make the mistake of doubting his serious intent at examining the underside of the city to see what crawls out. Attitudes towards rats, like everything else in Washington vary widely. They range from a guy who blithely stands on his back porch, aims his rifle and attempts his own rodent population control, to an animal rights activist who states her case for peaceful coexistence. In between, but closer on the spectrum to the marksmen, is a gay couple who blame indifferent absentee landlords -- a whole different breed of rat -- and believe more gays in the neighborhood would solve the rodent problem. Felter takes his man-in-the-alley interview to the experts, the garbage men and human trash-bin-divers who have enormous amounts of information about rats and their rituals. Most of his questions are sober and serious, but Felter also has an affection for such anecdotal curiosities as, "What's the biggest rat you've ever seen?" Ultimately he is after bigger game himself, tracking then-mayor Marion Barry to ask him -- Mike Wallace ambush style -- about the lack of recycling facilities in the city. And broadens the working definition or rat, he also includes a few moments of the media circus surrounding Monica Lewinsky confidante, Linda Tripp. Chances are that some variation of this movie could have been filmed in any major city in the nation, but be thankful that Felter's hometown happens to be Washington.

--Hap Erstein

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