Rats! Rats! Rats! Our Gnawing Problem

Film Takes On D.C.'s 'Garbage Culture'

By Nicole Lewis

The glint of an eye, the twitching of a nose and there it is: the first bold rodent in a cast of thousands that star in James M. Felter's disturbing new documentary, "Rats."

Initially, it seems almost cute as it slithers through a wire fence and dives into a dumpster, followed by a flash of reddish tail. But by the end of the first scene, a stream of rats flow rhythmically in and out of the trash. They are repulsive.

When Felter started the project, he merely intended to document the District's rat problem. But the film he is now finishing is more about what he calls the city's "garbage culture." Felter blames the residents of Washington, not the city government, for the rats infestation. "I don't think it's the city's fault. This calls for responsibility," he says.

While working on "Rats," Felter discovered that the United States produces 6 pounds of trash per person per day, whereas Japan and Denmark produce only 2. After spending the past 18 months hanging around garbage and all its attendant rats, Felter concluded that his fellow citizens need to clean up the streets -- and keep them clean.

"This started as an artistic endeavor," he says, "and now it's a crusade."

"Rats" was mostly shot in one dank, dirty alleyway in Adams-Morgan behind (appropriately enough) Willard Street, only blocks away from where the 40-year-old Felter lives. After working days as a freelance film editor, he spent many of his nights from October to April filming his subjects at close range. "I had a schizophrenic relationship with the rats," he says. "I loved them when I was behind the camera. The second I stepped back, they scared...me." He recalls going home and imagining hearing rats scurrying around in his apartment. Now, he says he can spot rat holes wherever he goes.

The documentary intersperses footage of and facts about rats with a variety of talking heads. Two longtime Willard Street residents say that the rat population in their neighborhood has risen in recent years. One of their neighbors demonstrates his sharpshooting skills as a method of extermination. Local garbage men advise that there is only one way to avoid rats: run. Felter also interviewed some specialists, including William Page, head of Vector Control and the D.C. governments self proclaimed "Rat Man," and Leslie Hotaling, the city's administrator of solid waste management.

Felter devotes a good share of his 80-minute documentary to two homeless men he befriended while he was filming. Billy and Joseph -- no last names -- share what little warmth and food is available on the streets with the rats. Although Joseph depends on the trash for his survival, he looks at a fancy car and wonders aloud: "Now if I can afford that expensive car, why can I not clean up this little bit of trash?"

Felter calls himself a "major animal rights person" -- full disclosure: He's a vegetarian -- but he swears nothing in the film is staged. He does admit, however, to illuminating the rats with warm light to render them more appealing. "We shot it like a nature documentary," he explained on a recent evening at Richfield Productions in Georgetown, where he is completing the sound and editing. "Rats" also includes an interview with Lisa Lange, public relations director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Can we hope for a rodent free city? Felter doesn't think so. An exterminator depicted in the film blows rat poison into the ground, but admits the rats keep coming back. The film's anonymous rat sniper is ultimately a poor -- and illegal -- exterminator. An interview with Linda Grant, spokeswoman for the Public Works Department, offers the closest thing to a solution: trash clean-up and then containment.

"I think we've demonstrated very well that eradication doesn't work," Felter says. After all, as his film notes, a single pair of rats and their offspring can produce thousands of babies in just on year.

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