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The Rat Savior

1976 film by Krsto Papić

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ1001102
Source-derived summary

The Rat Saviour (Croatian: Izbavitelj) or The Redeemer is a 1976 Croatian fantasy horror film directed by Krsto Papić. It was awarded as the best film at the 1977 International Science Fiction Film Festival in Trieste, the 1980 Paris International Festival of Fantastic and Science-Fiction Film and 1982 Fantasporto. The film was selected as the Yugoslav entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

In 1999, a poll of Croatian film critics found it to be one of the best Croatian films ever made.

In 2003, Papić directed sequel or/and remake, titled Infection (Infekcija).

Plot

A man uncovers a race of intelligent rats who can appear as human. He is captured and taken to the rat people's leader (the "savior" of the movie's title). He escapes, but then wonders who among his fellow humans is a rat person in disguise.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Rat Savior” as 1976 film by Krsto Papić. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Savior, film and Krsto.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1976, 1977, 1980, 1982—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1976-10-26, 1981-01-21—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Savior, film and Krsto providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Rat Savior”, the useful work is to connect “1976 film by Krsto Papić” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1001102. VIAF identifies the subject as 305893571. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1977, 1980 and 1982.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Rat Savior”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Rat Savior primary sources, The Rat Savior archive and Savior research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Rat Savior”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Rat Savior” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.