(Minor Spoilers Only)
Wow. Seriously. Wow.
Okay, keep it together. Gotta stay professional.
Plot
District 9 is a 2009 science-fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced (in part) by the Fallen Son of film himself, Peter Jackson.
Set in modern-day South Africa, the film begins with a series of documentary-style clips which give a brief history of the titular “District 9.” Twenty years ago, an alien ship comes to a halt directly over Johannesburg. No activity comes from the ship, and after several days, it is decided to forcibly cut into the vessel. Inside are well over a million starving, diseased alien workers. The government soon sets up a temporary residential camp, which slowly evolves into a detainment camp, which in turn becomes a closed-off slum. The aliens (“prawns,” as they are derogatively called) live in ramshackle, rusty huts, and human crime organizations exploit them, selling food for outrageous profits.
With anti-alien sentiment growing, it is decided to move the entire prawn population to the new District 10, some 20 miles outside of the city.
Enter our… well, I can’t right well say hero, but protagonist, Wikus van der Merwe, and field agent for the organization in charge of alien contact.
Without giving too much away, Merwe is place in charge of “evicting” the prawns, forcing them to sign wavers so that they me be relocated “legally.” However, a series of events leads to his becoming a fugitive, forcing him to hide amongst the people he once persecuted.
District 9 is a really, really good film. What was good in particular? Allow me to itemize:
Pictography
This movie is (unlike many past attempts at a “realistic camera”) quite visually pleasing. The transition from documentary to action film is almost seamless, and the shaking of the camera (the bane of films like Cloverfield or the Borne movies) is kept reasonable. The scenery is presented in a raw, unapologetic way, and really conveys the harsh, disturbing nature of both the fictional slum of the film, and the real-life places it is based upon.
Acting
It takes a lot to pull off this kind of movie. A fair number of people can act well enough to be film stars, but it takes real talent to take on the role of someone who cannot act at all. The cast really shines in that regard.
For any film, you need to suspend your disbelief. You need to be able to get into the universe of the movie, believe anything: men dressing up like bats to fight crime, planet-destroying lasers, or even that romances begin at random in bookstores (if they did, I’d be married). But the cast of District 9 is so earnest, so believable, so realistic, that within five minutes you forget that we are watching a world full of sapient insects and that there’s a giant spaceship floating over South Africa. Which segways well into…
Special Effects
Okay, this is probably the shakiest aspect of the film. Though the aforementioned giant spaceship is presented with a level of photo-realism I had thought impossible in the realms of current CGI, the aliens themselves are (at least initially) pretty fake-looking. Now, don’t get me wrong, they are quite an amazing effect on their own, but couple them with the insanely high-quality of the live action, and they don’t quite measure up. Oh, they come very, very close, but it takes a minute to adjust to their extended presence.
The aliens are easy enough to adapt to, but the other special effects will require that same movie-going disbelief you’ve been training all these years. You’ve got a couple lasers, that kind of thing. Over-all, the SEs are very, very good, there’s just a few frames that might make you go “huh?”
Oh, and that ship is simply amazing.
Writing/Direction
This is the best part of the film.
Okay, so you’re setting a film in South Africa. You are making it, in addition to an action film, a clear reference to apartheid. How do you have villains without offending anyone?
Very simple – make them the two most universally hated groups of people in the world: Nigerian criminals and private military contractors.
The only thing better would be Nazis. But then the movie would be too awesome.
Okay, so you’ve got some villains. How about a protagonist? He would need to be very believable. After all, this story is bookended by a fictional documentary – no super-soldiers where. He’d need to be a normal guy, and his dialogue must sound like a real person. He’ll need believable character flaws. Perhaps make him a coward. Or racist. Or something like that.
Oh. You have that as well?
Um, okay, well, you’ve got aliens. You’ve got to make them realistic, I mean the language barrier alone- oh, you have subtitles. Alright, fine. But they’ll also need-
…
Okay, reasonable physical characteristics. Halfway plausible technology.
Well, your premise will need to be-
Perfectly reasonable considering the inherent setting of the story and current geopolitical conditions.
Brilliant. Fine, movie. You beat me. You are incredibly well-penned.
Seriously though, District 9 really is well-written. Characters sound real, the premise is awesome, the settings are stark, and the metaphors are amazing. This movie has provided me with more sympathy for the plight of the African people than any number of real-life documentaries, and really did leave me breathless at times.
Closing Thoughts
There is very, very little to complain about with this movie. Due to my own laziness, I was unable to get to a matinee, and you know what? I’m glad. If I was going to pay $8.50 to see a movie this month, I’m glad it was this one.
District 9 is a great story, told in a great way, played by great actors, with great special effects. I will point out a few minute flaws, however:
1) Early shots of the aliens look out of place in the otherwise photo-realistic setting of the film
2) How on earth did they manage to teach every single one of these thing English in only 20 years? There’re two million of them!
3) Iif the aliens have what is essentially Metal Gear, why don’t they just steal the cat-food?
4) I don’t think splicing works that way
5) Where the hell are the rest of the world governments?
Shy of these minor, geekish flaws, I can’t really complain. Any other qualms I might have are in regard to the unbelievablity of some minor plot points, but they are only unbelievable in hindsight. During the movie, you totally buy it.
To conclude, District 9 kicks ass, and a lot of it. It is quite easily the best movie I’ve seen all year, and will probably be the same for you. in fact, I will give this film, right now, the honor of entering Din's DVD List - those select few films that, after only one showing in the theater, I know i must have on tap someday.
District 9 is now showing.
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