Dir: Neill Blomkamp
So many alien movies, and so many movies that simply have aliens in them. Aliens are just that, alien to what we, as a culture, know and can relate to. One of the reasons I love science fiction is because of the alien worlds and alien cultures. What District 9 does so well is to meld alien concepts and alien technology with a human culture and technology, and it does it with subtlety and with distinction all in one go. It comments on human nature with chest-popping brutishness, but still retains some subtle nuances that not only keep the film watchable but make it worth watching.
But I could prattle on from my humanist soap-box all day. That would be easy. Instead I am going to just pick a few aspects of what I found to be bits of artistic genius. I thoroughly loved this movie. As an amateur critic, though, I feel compelled to say at least something derogatory to ensure I retain some respectability amongst my peers: it was completely unbelievable in nearly every aspect even as it worked so hard to be a believably realistic oeuvre. With that out of the way, please indulge me while I gush.
The movie is about a race of intergalactic aliens who have arrived at Johannesburg, South Africa in a sort of colony ship. They arrive starving and are quickly placed into a kind of refugee camp, where they will continue to remain starving and poor. Poverty breeds crime and social programs, both of which take an economic toll on society, and at this point the movie uses the foil of post-apartheid cultures in South Africa to create a setting for the main plot of the movie. A well-meaning social worker named Wikus is accidentally exposed to a alien fuel-source and begins to genetically transform into an alien himself. This transformation makes him a hot commodity, since he is now the only human capable of using the genetically attuned weaponry the aliens brought with them. After escaping the deprivations of the medical/military/corporate community and the neo-religious/rebelious warlord/black-market community, Wikus falls in with an alien and his son, who have completed secret work on a transport ship designed to return them to the now-empty mothership, which has just been floating around above Johannesburg. Wikus finally locates the moral high ground and sacrifices his humanity to assist the two aliens in making their escape.
Sharlto Copley is a treasure in this film. He plays the dorky social worker with nuance and just the right amount of thoughtless racism, never stooping too low or backing down. A testament to the script, the character doesn't really find the path we so desperately want him to find until the last few minutes of the movie, hold onto all that we as viewers loath about despicable characters like a cultural lifeline. The leader of the military forces actually looked and acted like a coworker of mine, which made his deplorable attitude of “shoot first, because it is easier than asking questions, and kinda fun t' boot” all the more haunting. The quasi-documentary feel which began with the short-film (I urge your to watch it on Youtube.com) is a wonderful touch. The special effects were awesome, if grotesque. The aliens are realistic CGI, but with a conscious thought given to their movement and behavior, dress and voice. We find them wearing bras, caricatures of humanity, or their outer carapaces spray-painted as though clothed. The equipment is scratched and dented and sufficiently lived in. The setting is the worst living conditions imaginable, made all the more sad because it was filmed on location.
I appreciated the moral decadence that is portrayed in this movie, not because I believe it is a great motivator for the bad guys, but because it is so well handled. Everyone who portrays a morally black facade has a whole slew of reasons to support it; conscious reasons. Realistic reasons. The populace is upset over the cost, while the government wants alien technology, and the gangs want power, and the individuals want what so many individuals want when faced with an alien culture in their midst; power to usage their fears. Wikus even has his own reasons for turning on the only beings on the planet that can help him, a fear laced with a manic urgency to escape his plight. And though the movie is designed to let us loath all that is bitter about humans, there is still the seed of “how would I feel in that situation... how do I feel when I'm in that situation now?” planted like a weed within our souls.
District 9 is an unbelievable movie because there are way too many loopholes and unaddressed points. But it is well made, thought-provoking movie that brought an original idea and made it poignant and entertaining.
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