Tag: aliens
DISTRICT 9: Two thumbs WAY UP!
by Oscar on Aug.14, 2009, under Movie Reviews
After weeks of axious anticipation I could no longer wait patiently for the premier of the alien creature feature “District 9″ so I planned to attend a Thursday midnight showing with friend, Harold, a like minded fan of sci-fi movies.
Now, Harold is just as jaundiced as am I when it comes to proclaiming a movie to be a “Blockbuster”, and we were BOTH wary of what this under advertised movie would offer, but neither of us were disappointed with the film. I think that I am probably going to be more effusive in my praise for “District 9″ because I spend more time reading and watching sci-fi than does he, so here goes…
Who the heck is Neill Blomkamp? A brief bio from Wikipedia:
Neill Blomkamp is a South African born, Vancouver, BC-based director of short films and advertisements. Blomkamp employs a documentary-style, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending seamlessly with naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery effects. He directed a series of three short films set in the Halo universe (known collectively as Landfall) and was hired to direct the movie adaptation of the series before financial problems forced the project to be indefinitely postponed. In 2008 he won the Cannes Lions 2008 – Film Lions Grand Prix for the HALO “combat” web commercial. He is currently represented by Ari Emanuel, CEO of William Morris Endeavor.
So we have a maker of documentaries who also dabbles in gaming video. Not a very promising resume for a major motion picture, but here is the beauty of his bonafides for “District 9″: He filmed the first half the movie documentary style in order to set up the whole scenario and then seamlessly segued into a style that followed the story of the main character in a more personal way.
Sharlto Copley as govt agent Wikus van de Merwe
Center to the plot is a non-descript, nerdish, and non too dynamic bureaucrat, Wikus van de Merwe, who gets appointed to the post of director of “moving aliens to a new area” because of the influence of his father-in-law who is on the governing board of “Multi-National United”, an arms manufacturing concern that has the contract for managing the alien settlement. His encouragement to Wikus is “This is your opportunity, don’t f__k it up!”
Why an arms manufacturer, and why Wikus? Because Wikus is tragically prone to manipulation and because MNU has grand schemes to profit from the alien arms technology, but have been frustrated because the aliens built them to require a genetic key for operation, a key that the humans have not been able to reproduce in over twenty years. They are hoping that Wikus will perform unquestioningly and allow MNU to do a legal comprehensive search of the compound to assist their effort to control and exploit the aliens. And the emphasis is on “legal”, for as they try to evict the aliens they go door to door requiring them to sign the agreement to relocate. It doesn’t matter that they cannot read the form, nor that they actually sign, because any resistance is dealt with harshly allowing MNU to forcibly move them.
The crisis occurs when Wikus comes in contact with a cylinder containing a mysterious fluid manufactured by the aliens in secret, a fluid that is derived from their own biological material and used to power their space craft which has been hovering over the city of Johannesburg for 20 years. This fluid begins a physical metamorphosis in Wikus, slowly turning him into one of “them”. As the change slowly commences Wikus’ perspective changes and he begins to see the nefarious designs that MNU have on the alien population, 1.8 million strong.
Newcomer Sharlto Copley is just right for this role, so much so that you can actually believe in his role as government functionary. He’s not brave, he’s not smart, he’s just an ordinary man caught up in the dealings of amoral men, forced to make decisions that go above his “pay scale’ and far beyond his own self interest. Hero or villain? That is the choice left to a flawed man
Especially disturbing in “District 9″ is the picture painted by Blomkamp of the attitudes and actions of the human population toward the aliens. Ironically, all sectors of society, blacks , coloreds and whites, ALL display a prejudice and loathing akin to that directed toward the residents of Soweto years ago. Corruption in the management of the compound is rife. Black marketeering in food, weapons, and inter-species prostitution run by the Nigerian mafia. It is all calculated to frame humanity in its worst light. But the aliens themselves are no more appealing. First of all their appearance is repugnant, resembling walking shrimp that the humans describe derogatively as “Prawns”. No more “kaffir”, but another in a long line of racial epitaphs.
Both disturbing as well as fascinating, “District 9″ can be portrayed as an allegory for human behavior over their entire history, and it is this focus that I hope the Academy of Motion Pictures highlights as it considers this years movies for recognition come Oscar time. Will it happen? Probably not for “Best Picture”, nor “Best Actor” in ANT form, but perhaps Neill Blomkamp will receive recognition for what he has created, a first rate sci-fi film that carries a message that is unmistakable in scope.
For this reason I rate “District 9″ worthy of
