Rats In Hollywood

Everybody knows that Hollywood is simply overflowing with rats, most of which walk the streets with two legs and wads of film-making cash flowing from their Armani suit pockets. But it seems that the plague-carrying kind which scuppers about on the floor is also set to take its share of the Hollywood limelight. The rodent infestation plaguing the district of Columbia - the city which has two rats for every resident - has been captured in an 80-minute documentary that premieres next week. Local director James Felter, who spent 18 months putting together the feature he imaginatively titled RATS, plans to enter it in several film festivals, including Sydney and Berlin, key marketplaces for independent directors to hawk their wares for worldwide distribution. The documentary however is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Nauseating footage of rats scuttling through dark, fetid alleys littered with trash and rotting garbage is relieved by people discussing rats, trash and rotting garbage. A self-proclaimed 'Rat Sniper' demonstrates his own solution - a BB gun and a steady aim, while two homeless men describe life on the street with the repugnant creatures. But before rat-killing wannabes infest the sewers, it's perhaps worth bearing in mind that the filthy little blighters can swim at least half-a-mile, tread water for three days, transmit up to 35 diseases, multiply in the blink of an eye, survive atomic testing and live in packs of more than 200. Scary.