District 9

27th August 2009

Where do I start with this movie?
First of all, the promotion for this film was very well done, at least in the Los Angeles area. You couldn’t drive down the street or turn a corner without District 9 posters on bus stops, public phones or billboards claiming that area was for “humans only”. If you hadn’t heard of District 9 (have you been living under a rock??) you sure were familiar with their advertising, whether they made sense to you or not.

I had gone to see the film without knowing much about it, just the basic concept of the film and that there were no named actors with a $30 mill budget. So honestly, how good could it really be, right? Well, within the first five minutes, you knew that this was something different, but something to be excited about. Peter Jackson has this way of creating worlds and making them so convincing, that you never really question anything about it, you just accept it as it is. The basis of this story is actually very very simple when you strip all the bells and whistles away. In short, it is a story about an alien race who got stranded on earth for 20 years and although adapting to this planet, are still working on getting home to theirs.

It takes place in South Africa, just outside of Johannesburg. Our introduction to our main human, Wikus Van De Merwe, is shot documentary style, interviewing him and introducing us to this world where humans and aliens are attempting to cohabitate. The actor playing Van De Merwe is Sharlto Copley, unknown, because he hasn’t really had an prior acting experience. But he takes on this role and blows your mind with it. Without giving away any spoilers, Van De Merwe’s character goes through an amazing character arc throughout the film, that you would expect a seasoned actor who understands the transformation of characters would find challenging; but Copley grabs the bulls by the horn and delivers a performance that is absolutely amazing.

As for the aliens, who are referred to in the film as “prawns”, they were so realistic and worked so well in the film, it was hard to believe they were born from someone’s imagination. The choice of shooting this film documentary style, with a lot of handheld cameras, and also the use of security cameras, makes the reality of it even more convincing. These prawns are stranded in this South African town, and are all contained within an area labeled District 9. Without explanation, you see the interaction between humans and the prawns and don’t really question why Wikus is speaking to them in english and they are speaking their language, but everything is understood between them. The prawns have adapted to the lifestyle of earth, with shacks as their shelter, bartering and working for food, wearing clothing, and even a little interspecies prostitution.

Shooting on location in a town just outside of Johannesburg, you really get the feel of this place and can feel the heat and stickiness in the air, and smell the stench of garbage and dead animals everywhere. The film sets up so that we are actually looking at a present day South Africa, by having the prawns land on Earth back in 1982. So, to have an alien movie that is so convincing and so well done, but then to actually make you think the “what if” scenarios, it takes the cake. It sadly reflects our human nature of racism and bigotry, not just with other races, but with other life forms. We are constantly looking for other life forms out there, and wanting to learn more about the planets who can host other life forms, but have we ever really stopped to think what we would do if we ever found them and came into contact with them? This film does, and does it well. The human condition hasn’t changed because they are from another planet, instead, humans have become defensive and treat these aliens as a lower life form and kick them while they are down. It’s funny that the majority of alien movies out there show aliens being superior to humans, in their evolution and intelligence; whereas this could be the case in District 9, we as humans are so quick to attack, that we don’t even give them a chance to show us. Along with the aliens, came their weaponry, which I believe is the reason why humans didn’t wipe them out completely or even tried to. The prawn weapons are bio weapons meaning something in their DNA allows them to be used and initiated. Humans alone do not have the same chemical makeup, therefore are not able to work the awesome huge guns these prawns have.

I have only seen the film once, but do plan to go back and see it many more times if possible. I hear that when you go back to see it again, you notice things that you didn’t see before and things start to make sense even more than before. While doing a review and trying to be careful not to give anything away, I will warn you that you should be prepared to go on an emotional rollercoaster with this film. Yes, it is THAT kind of film, not just any alien movie where humans and aliens go at it and lots of stuff gets blown up. It’s a real look at our world if we were able to host other lifeforms from other planets.

I haven’t been this excited about an alien film, probably since the movie Aliens back in the early 80’s. Truly one of the best films of this year, and everyone should go and see it at least once!!

Brilliantly well done!

Facebook

Google

Twitter

We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.