District 9 Movie Review 9.5/10.

District 9 is one of the most original movie ideas I have ever encountered and I have seen a ton of movies. The idea is relatively simple it is an alien movie that is a comment on the human condition. Think to yourself as you are reading this these questions: What would you do if an alien race came to your city? What would you do if these people were refugees needing sanctuary in your city? What would you do if you discovered they were emaciated and badly in need of food and care? What would you do if it seemed they were not smarter, and perhaps in many ways were not as advanced as we are? These key questions are the pivotal ideas of this movie. We, as humans, do not have a good track record when dealing with people that are different on first contact, and we have an even worse track record of dealing with refugees. I wish to regress a little bit and talk about the production before I continue you into the plot points. It is important to point out that this movie was made on 30 million dollars, which of course by today’s standard is a pittance. Despite the low budget this is an effects heavy movie, and I must say that given the budget the effects look fantastic and the shot of the space ship hovering about J-Berg is fantastic. The main actor has never really been in anything other than this, he is reprising his role from the movie short that this movie was adapted from. It was shot in South Africa and acted by South African’s, which I think is very important, that essentially makes this a foreign film, and this should not be overlooked. Anyway back to the plot at hand. This movie in some ways reminds me of another alien movie, “Signs.” Not because the plot or style is in anyway similar, but because , like “Signs” is an alien movie that isn’t really about the alien part. Yes, this is an alien movie, but despite the fact it’s full of aliens, and DNA shifting and advanced weaponry this is more than any of that a comment on the human condition. And frankly, although riveting, it’s difficult to watch. For example the aliens are referred to always as “prawns” which is what they call shrimp in some other countries. They are called this because they do in fact resemble shrimp in some ways. This is of course a parallel for racial slurs that have been used in South Africa, or as we are in the U.S. some particularly nasty slang that we are all familiar with. In the movie they use the same rationale that people have always used, to paraphrase “well that is what they look like, so it is ok right?” That’s the kind of things people are always saying to rationalize the cruel things that they say. This movie touches on everything that has happens in regards to refugees or to those of the minority race. A termination of rights, thoughts of them being less than human (I mean human in the sense that they are viewed as being below the need for basic rights much the way slave owners used to refer to African Americans) serious exploitation and controlling of monopolies, and every similar theme, such as the common racial epithet “they all look the same.” And of course the usual movie them is there, that everything is always about weapons and money.
As for the actual production of the movie, it was pretty spot on. The actors are talented and perfect for their parts. The movie is shot in a documentary sort of way, it starts out as a documentary on the aliens and on the lead character Wikus, and in the middle it drifts from the documentary footage and starts showing you the actual events in Wikus’ life that lead to his notoriety. The two approaches are very well integrated and it doesn’t seem clumsy at all. This movie is not one that is going to make you feel good. In fact it is going to make you feel like crap more than likely. I realized as I was watching this movie that I totally bought everything they were trying to convey, and I realized at that point that I have very little faith in humanity. However, despite that I think this is the one film this year that I think everybody should see, but be warned it’s depressing and has some fairly gross parts.

Best Scene: When Wikus’ has his hand bandage removed by the Doctor.

Best Line: “there you go, souvenir from your first abortion. “