add to our listingsMovie Review: District 9
The Charlotte Observer
The newcomers are, in a word, gross. They showed up, a million of them, on South Africa's doorstep 20 years ago. And they won't go home.
They steal. They're violent. They breed like insects. They have vile dietary needs.
And after two decades in a vast walled-in shantytown, the government and "the people" have had enough. They're to be forcibly evicted by "contractors" - 1.8 million "prawns" sent to a concentration camp.
Nobody seems to mind. When you're grotesque creatures the locals have charitably nicknamed prawns, the "Humans Only" signs, the restrictions on movement, breeding and land ownership are the best you can expect in District 9, a splatter-happy sci-fi film that slides a sociology lesson in between the exploding heads.
Johannesburg native Neill Blomkamp's film (he wrote and directed it) is equal parts "Independence Day" and "Alien Nation," with a dollop of "Blair Witch" shaky-cam and "Robocop" gunplay tossed in for good measure. But what it really aspires to is to be a sci-fi "Black Like Me." Only when Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), the officious, sweater-vested bureaucrat in charge of the "evictions," becomes hunted like the aliens can he feel their pain.
Blomkamp tells this story as a documentary flashback, experts "remembering" events mixed in with TV news segments, footage from a Wikus-at-work documentary and surveillance video. The point of view isn't consistent but the camcorder stuff gives "District 9" immediacy. We see Wikus lead his team into the shantytown and see what causes him to slowly develop sympathy for aliens who look like shrimp clad in ill-fitting human rags.
Corporate skulduggery, medical experiments and trigger-happy mercenaries (led by David James, scary) conspire to open Wikus' eyes to the inhumanity of this situation - even if the creatures they're dealing with aren't human.
The movie settles too comfortably into a bloodbath last act, but Blomkamp nicely pulls the trigger on the big action beats even as he ratchets up the tension. Amazingly, he manages to make these squishy beasties sympathetic - eventually.
As allegory, "District 9" isn't all that, despite the racist parallels and the natural advantage of being set in South Africa. But as straight sci-fi action, it packs a punch, once you get past the ick factor.
Roger Moore rated this film 4 stars (out of 5)
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This movie overall was an excellent satire on how we treat each other. The aliens lived in a "slum", had little access to good food, lived in unsanitary conditions, and enjoyed little sympathy by the majority. The second theme of the movie was the morphing of the main human, into an alien. This had aspects that reminded me of the movie "THE FLY". Hard to watch at times if you have a weak stomach, but overall an excellent movie.
Very, very good movie. Easily the most intelligent and thought provoking film of the year, or that I've ever seen for that matter. I will say from the feedback I've seen online and heard from folks - you either love it or hate it depending on your interpretation. I think it's a tremendous film and highly recommend it.
If you love graphics like i do, you'll be glued to the screen. Definetly a part 2 in the wrks.
Violent South African saga has a troubling message about how humans treat any outsiders. (Full review)
The newcomers are, in a word, gross. They showed up, a million of them, on South Africa's doorstep 20 years ago. And they won't go home. (Full review)