Ciske de Rat


Ciske de Rat is a novel for children by Dutch author Piet Bakker. It is part of the Ciske trilogy which was written between 1941 and 1946. The book was published in more than ten countries. It was made into two films, a television series and a musical. Best known is the film version of 1984, starring Danny de Munk as Ciske, Herman van Veen and Willeke van Ammelrooy.

Plot summary

Ciske de Rat is the story of eleven-year-old lonely street child Ciske Vrijmoeth, who has no friends and is only called "the rat". The setting is in Amsterdam in the 1930s. Ciske has to change school, because he poured ink over his teacher's head. After school, he helps out in a pub, where his mother Marie also works. His beloved father Cor is a fisherman and therefore not at home. The story is told by his new teacher Bruis, who gives him a chance.
Ciske groeit op is the second part. Ciske starts a fire at home as he accidentally knocks over a lantern. He meets his father, who wants to get divorced. At school he makes friends with a sick boy called Dorus. One night, Ciske finds his mother with another man, who beats him. As his mother tears out pages from a book which was a gift from Dorus, who later dies, Ciske gets angry and kills his mother with a knife. He is then arrested and put into jail. His teacher helps him out, and after Ciske saves a drowning boy's life, he is declared a hero and lives together with his father and aunt Jans.
In the third part, Cis de man, Ciske is now an adult soldier and fights against the German soldiers in World War II. This part of the book was published in 1946 after the Dutch liberation and is not included in the films.

Films

1955

The first film was issued in 1955, starring Dick Van der Velde as Ciske and Kees Brusse as the teacher Bruis. The black-and-white film, which was directed by Wolfgang Staudte, won an OCIC Award and a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Based on admissions, it is still the third most popular Dutch film in Dutch box office history.

1984

The second film was directed by Guido Pieters and filmed by Frans Bromet. Ciske is played by Danny de Munk who also sang the title song Ik voel me zo verdomd alleen which scored a number one hit in the Netherlands.
An enhanced television series was later broadcast.
Both films are still in the Top fifteen most-successful films in The Netherlands since 1945.

Soundtrack

The 1984 soundtrack features two songs from the film: Ik voel me zo verdomd alleen and Vergeet nu maar je zorgen, which is played at the closing credits.

Musical

From October 5, 2007 to November 29, 2009, a musical based on the full trilogy toured the Netherlands and Belgium, starring 37-year-old Danny de Munk as grown-up Ciske. The music was composed by Henny Vrienten. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was present at the gala premiere. The show received very positive reviews and seven Dutch musical awards. A CD and DVD were released of the stage production. The musical was staged again in 2016/2017, again starring Danny de Munk. It won, among others, the 2017 Dutch Musical Awards for Best Dutch Musical.