Ratas, Ratones, Rateros: Welcome to Ecuador

The Ecuadorian film industry hasn’t and isn’t booming throughout history—nevertheless, queue in the entrance for Sebastian Cordero, one of the most emblematic Ecuadorian directors, who made his directorial debut with this film. With the dawn of Ratas, Ratones, Rateros comes a before and an after. The before has been briefly touched upon so let’s focus on the after. The impact of this film was tremendous not only in the native country but in Latin America. For the natives, it marked a film filled with local jargon and expressions that subtitles will do no justice. However, it brought a sense of pride to the nation to see something fresh and relatable on their screens; it was proof that films of this caliber could be made in Ecuadorian territory. For the rest, other Latin American directors and production companies saw an opportunity for collaboration with Cordero as seen in later films such as Cronicas and Rabia where the now masters Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron, were involved.

Coming back to the “caliber” part of the film; I may have stretched that a tad. By no means is this film of the caliber of great Spanish-language films like “Volver” by Almodovar, “El Club” by Pablo Larrain, or many films from the likes of Cuaron and Del Toro. Unfortunately, Ratas, Ratones, Rateros is unpolished, not well-grounded, and at times, ridiculous; I believe it is mostly due to the amateur acting. Carlos Valencia as Angel, carries the film in terms of the acting but it’s not enough to hold the crumbling bits together. Having said that, the cracks in this film don’t dim the great heart it has. Cordero does a great job at depicting a true and raw Ecuador, specifically the cities of Quito and Guayaquil through the lens of the social divide, drugs, theft, and prostitution. He aims to give a voice to the streets of Ecuador and while at times it looks like there is a plotline there, it often gets lost in other sub-plots that don’t add up but rather distract the viewer. 

The film opens with a chase sequence where we see Angel fend off what we can imagine are hitmen after his head. Everyone around him knows his shady business, so he escapes to the only person who pays any attention to him, his cousin Salvador (Marcos Bustos), a young schoolboy who along with his two friends, engages in mischievous small-scale theft. However, that is exponentially scaled once Angel touches down. Guided by Angel’s broken moral compass, they steal jewelry, and cars, and eventually take people’s lives. 

Cordero’s brilliant use of angles and close-ups gives tremendous depth to the film. I found the scenes of Angel subbing a cigarette with a “toxico” (something toxic - as in a hard drug) extremely personal and relatable, regardless if I had done any hard drugs. When Cordero took his time and didn’t rush through things, he became increasingly more effective at storytelling and at fleshing out his subject matter which was to show the environment a humble family of Ecuador is exposed to. In contrast, I felt like the action scenes such as when Salvador confronts the mysterious follower or when Angel gets beat up were made prematurely; had no prior strategy and the end product is predictable, not engaging, and very cliche sequences.

The music. I do have to hand it to Cordero on this one. While it may not be an original soundtrack, it is a well-curated playlist filled with Ecuadorian rock classics and atmospheric tunes that introduce another layer of cinematic magic. My favorite scene was precisely with a song by the Ecuadorian band “Sal y Mileto” during a melancholic sequence where Salvador is pensive outside the hospital where his dad is hospitalized. I felt like Cordero and the actor Marcos Bustos did a good job at transmitting that Salvador is not meant for the thug life and that deep down, he is just a normal kid who falls in love, cares about his dad regardless of his abuse, wants a good relationship with their cousins, and wants a normal live like the rest. However, he thinks he can’t because his life is tainted by economic and social limitations, bad influences, and domestic abuse - something that many kids in Ecuador go through. Some make it out, some don’t. I feel like this film is a homage to those people.