Movie:District 9

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Louis Minnaar, Mandla Gaduka, David James (not the goalie) and many more fine folk whose names you won't recognise

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Genre: Science Fiction

A thought-provoking, if somewhat icky, sci-fi thriller featuring scenes of relentlessly brutal inhumanity – and yet, hope shines through this grim portrait of our own species.

Release Date: 13-Aug-2009

URL: http://district9movie.com/

Language: English

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Synopsis:

In South Africa, a bureaucrat attempting to relocate a shanty town full of extraterrestrial refugees becomes inextricably involved in the aliens' own struggle for survival. Numerous human bodies explode as a consequence ....

My Comment/Review(s):

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Louis Minnaar, Mandla Gaduka, David James (not the goalie) and many more fine folk whose names you won't recognise

Not a film for the squeamish or easily disoriented, this effort is a multilayered film that works as everything it tries to be: science fiction thriller, allegory, pseudo-documentary, thought-provoking exploration of man's inherent inhumanity … it deserves an A for ambition.

Set in Johannesburg, the film looks at the city's peculiar problem that truly has made it unique in the world. About 20 years ago in the story's timeline, a massive alien vessel appeared, seemingly immobile, over Johannesburg.

HOUSE CALL: 'Do not be alarmed, sir. I'm from Publishers Clearing House ...'

Its occupants were found half-starved and frightened, and a humanitarian mission was mounted immediately to relocate them to a camp on Earth – the titular District 9.

Twenty years later, a clever montage of interviews at the beginning tells us, the aliens –called by the derogatory name "Prawns" owing to their appearance and eating habits – are about to be relocated again, further away from the city because of the human sentiment against them.

A petty executive for the huge corporation MNU is chosen to lead the eviction exercise. Initially gung-ho and somewhat short on respect or regard for the stranded creatures, Wikus Van De Merwe (Copley) performs the job with enthusiasm.

MNU – like other monolithic movie corporations before it – may seem benevolent but it's actually interested only in harvesting alien technology (read: weapons) and DNA.

HANDS OFF: 'Nooo get away! I watched Cloverfield! I know what happens when you @#$%^ in the suits show up in this kind of movie.'

When a strange turn of fate gives Wikus something in common with these forcibly confined, exploited and mistreated ETs, he realises they are his only hope.

That's about half the plot of District 9 right there but it doesn't even scratch the surface of what this movie has to offer.

As mentioned earlier, there are many facets to the film, but don't expect them to run into one another. Blomkamp – who was initially tipped to direct Peter Jackson's proposed Halo movie production – deftly weaves everything together, even the faux documentary bits, into a narrative that is at once jet-propelled and yet laden with drama, pathos and allegory.

There are times when things start to get a bit maudlin (Wikus is such a crybaby for so much of the movie) and also when the madcap situations threaten to turn ludicrous, but it's all reined in nicely for a finale that is memorable for two reasons.

First, it gets you biting your nails, rooting for a pair of sympathetic aliens to succeed in their mission; second, it's simply a wild ride, people, with everything from highly armed professional soldiers to Nigerian gangsters to a way-cool battle-mech suit thrown in.

What really struck me about the effects – courtesy of Weta Digital – is how seamlessly integrated they are into each shot. You know that the aliens, the mech suit, the mothership have to be mostly CGI but they fit into each frame so naturally, that it's almost as if they're really there.

But District 9 is not just about exploding bodies and organic special effects. It's a smart, and smartly made, sci-fi thriller that expects you to do a little work piecing stuff together, and it also gives you pause to search your own conscience.

NOW THAT'S A BFG: 'It also has a can opener, a flashlight, a place to keep my change, and it can drill for oil, too.'

While Blomkamp and Jackson insist the film is not meant to be political, its South African setting will inevitably draw comparisons with apartheid, and how this makes it a bit outdated.

We just need to remember that some things never get old, because mistreatment of those who are different, or weaker, or who come to a place in the mistaken belief it can offer them sanctuary, is prevalent the world over.

Hearteningly, District 9 reminds us in its poignant, bittersweet moments that hope can thrive even amidst crushing inhumanity.

When you look beyond the exploding bodies and fountaining blood, and consider the abject circumstances of these alien visitors, it may strike you that they’re the perfect analogy for the displaced, marginalised and disenfranchised in our world.

They are different, they are exploited, they are forced to live in squalor and you could say they remain alive only at the whim of others. Yet they still yearn for home, cling to the vestiges of their hope, and have a capacity for compassion.

Like the brutality shown by the film's antagonists, these desires and qualities too are not the exclusive domain of any one species … or nationality … or race.

Surfing: http://district9movie.com/

Making The Grade: