Rat Life and Diet in North America is a Canadian short film, directed by Joyce Wieland and released in 1968.
[1] A satirical allegory for the political climate of the 1960s, the film centres on a group of gerbils who are being held as political prisoners by a cat, until eventually escaping to Canada and taking up organic farming.
[2] It was Wieland's first film to explicitly engage themes of Canadian nationalism,[3] reflecting her belief that Canada was the world's last remaining hope for the creation of a peaceful utopian society.
[5] It was broadcast by CBC Television in 1969, in an episode of the New Film Makers series.
[6] It has been frequently exhibited in retrospective shows, both of Wieland's own work,[7] and of the overall history of Canadian film.