Five Torches (Out of Five)
What would happen if aliens visited earth?
I’m not talking about sentimental film treacle about heartlights and flying bicyles, or the ego-stroking flattery about how America is so flippin’ incredible that it could even take down aliens with far superior technology (and no anti-virus software, apparently).
No, what would really happen? How would human beings truly react in the presence of alien beings?
District 9 pretty much tells it like it might very well be, and it ain’t pretty.
Told partly in documentary style, District 9 is the story of how, for reasons that are never quite clear, a group of more than a million insect-like aliens have become stranded on earth near Johannesburg, South Africa.
Flash forward 20 years, and the aliens have been put in a “refugee camp” known at District 9, where they’ve become subject to virulent racism, petty tyranny, and unbridled greed.
Then even that meager human generosity wears out, and the aliens are to be “relocated” to something that is basically a concentration camp.
You’ll spend the first thirty minutes of this movie wondering who exactly the hero is. But there is no hero — just one very weak, very pathetic man thrust into an extraordinary situation solely due to circumstances.
In fact, nothing about this film conforms to typical “movie” conventions — which is exactly why it’s so brilliant. Except for one obvious plot-twist (which has already been spoiled by being featured on the cover of EW), you have almost no idea where it’s going.
It all boils down to one withering accusation throw in the face of movie-goers: human beings are ultimately a very selfish species, caring about something precisely to the degree that we perceive it to be like us.
If you know anything about human history, or if you read the daily news , you know there’s far more than a kernel of truth to that charge.
This is brutal, provocative stuff — far more shocking than anything you saw in Hostel or Saw. But it’s the message that’s shocking, not its violence (which is graphic, but not extreme).
And just in case you’re getting the wrong idea from this review, the movie also works on the level of an absolutely riveting thriller — although, unlike the frequently-misunderstood Starship Troopers, it’s impossible to miss this movie’s message.
It’s also worth noting: this movie was not made on a mega-budget, but I have never seen aliens or special effects that look so utterly convincing.
If you’ve ever enjoyed science fiction on any level, go see this movie. It simply does not get any better than this.
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D-9 definitely has a lot going for it — character development, great acting a at least a few people, awesome alien weapons; it felt a bit preachy at times at different times though
I loved that movie so much that it’s actually really hard not type my opinions in all caps to convey how much.
lol. AGREE BIG-TIME!
Such interesting look into racism, slavery and the workings of the government all mashed into one…I definitely recommend this movie..!!
This hasn’t opened over here yet so I haven’t seen it, but I see there’s a fair bit of anger about it among POC fans:
http://theangryblackwoman.com/2009/08/15/the-people-and-their-cultures-poc-and-the-movies/
(The specific section is about a third of the way down the screen)
This is much truth to the accusation about black folks. In defense of the movie, ALL the characters are just about as negative as they could possibly be: corrupt, cowardly, selfish, evil. But those images of black folks are powerful in a way that negative images of white folks can never be.
Ironically, I thought Peter Jackson did the same thing in KING KONG. I suspect, being a New Zealander, he doesn’t understand black racial issues very well (again, ironically, since NZ has its own racial problems).
But DISTRICT 9 was weird, because the director is South African, and the movie was clearly intended to be, in part, a comment on apartheid.
Since District 9 is not yet on circuit in South Africa, I have not seen it. For non-South African audiences it is worth noting that many of the themes of racism and xenophobia exist in present day South Africa as much as it existed in the time of Apartheid.
Two years ago there were widespread riots inspired by xenophobia in numerous cities throughout South Africa. It lead to dozens of people being killed, houses torched and whole communities driven out of the neighbourhoods where they lived. This affected tens of thousands of people. Those non-South Africans were referred to as mkwere-kwere’s (due to their funny sounding languages) and called cockroaches by their South African attackers. Communities affected by xenophobic violence were housed by the South African authorities in refugee centers where they languished in squalid conditions until their forced removal from those refugee centers. This xenophobia occured within communities where foreigners (read non-South African citizens) lived as neighbours among South Africans. Notably the violence was exclusively conducted by black South Africans against people originating from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, the Congo, Mozambique, Somalia and other countries.
Another instance of people being called cockroaches as a precursor to a brutal genocide was in Rwanda.
I think that people reading racism into District 9 must realise that it is not the case of a stereotypical prejudice such as “white vs black” issue, but rather an “us against them” situation - something that no part of humanity may be incapable of.
One of my favorite films of the summer. Thought provoking and touching. I also liked how the character became more Human as the movie went on, even though he was becoming less human. Great stuff.
Highly enjoyable movie.
Although, I do wish that it hadn’t turned into a fairly standard action-adventure in the third act. Or at the very least, that they had managed to balance the action with the political aspects of the movie.
I also would have liked to have seen more of the aliens. It was never really explained why Christopher was such a “high functioning” alien when the others were only interested in cat-food. Also, it was never explained why the aliens didn’t use all their weapons and technology to fight back against humanity (or how they even re-acquired their weapons since the UN presumably didn’t let them take their weapons with them when they moved them from the mothership).
But minor quibbles aside, an excellent film. Great to see an “action movie” which isn’t just about including as many explosions as possible at the expense of “irrelevant” stuff like character development.
I loved this movie. It is a must see. The depth it goes to show how mankind can be so cruel and inhumane. It was a little slow at first with the whole documentary feel, but once you got past that it just draws you in and tells a great story. Is the next one going to be District 10?