Mobile
Friday, August 14, 2009
Film / Film Reviews / News District 9: A site worth seeing
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 1:52 PM
By Matt Brunson
DISTRICT 9
***
DIRECTED BY Neill Blomkamp
STARS Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood
District 9 is Independence Day for the art-house set. Although its press launch has been so deafening that it's managed to permeate the mainstream consciousness, its modest approach and meaty metaphors will curry greater favor with filmgoers who opt for Tsotsi over Transformers. And although it's already being hailed in many quarters as a model of originality, the truth of the matter is that the film follows genre conventions just as often as it heads off in its own direction. Like Independence Day, it treats the cinema of science fiction as its own buffet table, picking and choosing which ideas would best serve its own intentions. And in doing so, it comes up with a dish that's juicy in both execution and endgame.
Documentary-style footage and faux-news reels show how, back in 1981, an enormous alien craft appeared in the sky above Johannesburg, South Africa. The voyagers, malnourished and stranded on a spaceship too damaged to go anywhere else, were rounded up and placed in a slum area known as District 9. Now it's been nearly three decades since their arrival, and the million-plus aliens, known dismissively as "prawns" because of their physical appearance, continue to wallow in filth and poverty, conditions that convince the South African government to move them further away from the city limits so as to minimize their contact with humans even more. A private company named Multi-National United is hired to take care of the migration, but it's more interested in discovering how all that complicated alien weaponry works. It's left to a corporate wonk named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) to go shack to shack and get the indignant e.t.'s to move, and it's during his field work that an unexpected incident forces him to partner — if perhaps only temporarily — with these illegal aliens.
The specter of apartheid is never far removed from the actions occurring throughout District 9, but writer-director Neill Blomkamp and co-scripter Terri Tatchell never turn this into a heavy-handed screed. Instead, they approach the issues of racism and xenophobia mindful of their knotty ramifications. The blacks in the picture are as prejudiced against the "prawns" as much as the Afrikaners were as prejudiced against the blacks during the days of apartheid, aptly demonstrating how those without power will often lash out against others they view as even weaker rather than band together in an effort to topple the ruling class. And while Wikus might be an unlikely movie protagonist, he's a believably flawed Everyman, accepting the casual bigotry that defines him but never really exploring its cancerous effect until it's almost too late.
Imagination runs a bit short toward the end, as District 9 largely turns into a standard chase thriller and viewers are asked to swallow a bit more than even their disbelief-suspending minds might accept. But in a nice twist from the standard Hollywood blockbuster, this Australian import employs its special effects to save the day rather than ruin it, using superb CGI wizardry (from the same outfit that brought us The Lord of the Rings) to draw us into the final battles instead of relying on obvious fakery to distance us from the proceedings. Over 200 people are listed in the credits as having worked on the film's effects, and while this may not match Old Hollywood's proverbial "cast of thousands" on the other side of the camera, it is reassuring to see all these artists plying their trade on something so worthwhile.
Speaking of...
-
Computer Science And Photography – Matthew Mills a Photographer in NYC Explains This Unlikely Pairing
Nov 22, 2020 -
Imagicomm Entertainment to Make Blue Ridge Available on Multiple Platforms
Oct 15, 2020 -
The Moffett Restaurant Group Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Barrington’s Restaurant
Oct 12, 2020 - More »
Comments
Showing 1-1 of 1
Latest in The CLog
More by Matt Brunson
-
Fanning flames of expectation
Apr 26, 2019 -
That burning sensation
Apr 19, 2019 -
Gentle giant
Apr 19, 2019 - More »
-
Toxic T's?
Avoid them by supporting local businesses.
-
Live review: Demi Lovato, Time Warner Cable Arena (2/23/2014) 3
Former Disney star shows maturity beyond her years at Charlotte show.
-
Question the Queen City: How did a train end up in Freedom Park? 6
The antiquity - placed, oddly enough, in a city park - boasts a rich history
