District 9 Review

District 9 is set in an alternate 2010 where it has been 20 years since a derelict alien spacecraft has come to rest above the South African city of Johannesburg. The impoverished, "worker class" aliens have wound up occupying the slums directly below their ship which has been rendered inoperable, assumedly by the detachment of a command module of some kind. While the aliens, or "prawns" as they are unaffectionately known, are afforded the same human rights as their terrestrial counterparts, they essentially live like animals and are regarded as such by the surrounding populace. The prawns haven't done themselves any favours by scavenging (see "stealing") anything that isn't nailed down and exhibiting extremely disruptive and often destructive behaviour. Their inability to integrate has resulted in them being separated by chain link and razor wire, turning the slums of Johannesburg into an intergalactic refugee camp dubbed District 9.

The story focuses on Wikus van der Merwe, a high ranking MNU bureaucrat. MNU (Multinational United), along with their own private army, has been contracted to relocate the aliens occupying District 9 to a "much nicer place" located outside of Johannesburg and Wikus' recent promotion sees him at the helm of the operation. I don’t like to give away the plot of a good film, twists or no, so I won't go into it any more than that.

From the get go, it is clear that this film is a break from convention, adopting a mocumentary style. Sure, mocumentaries are nothing new, but D9 is different in that it eases in to the traditional invisible, omnipresent observer style when it's time to move the story along. Interviews, out-takes and in-the-field shoulder cam really ratchet up the realism. The movie Cloverfield took a similar approach, having a camera that actually existed in the movie and was operated by a character. The problem with Cloverfield's attempt is that the camera wouldn't bloody-well stop shaking and sometimes you want to see what's going on somewhere the camera man ain't. In D9¹, the camera is never too shaky for too long and we're not anchored to one character for the duration of the film.

The aliens and their technology are brought to life in Blomkamp's trademark gritty, unglamorous style which puts the suspension of disbelief ahead of overwhelming the eye² and combines perfectly with the setting, style and subject matter. The aliens themselves are another triumph. Their physiology and locomotion are as foreign as you would expect from an extra-terrestrial life form (or an E.L.F. as I call them), yet alien refugee Christopher and his son are easily lovable without things getting all Disney.

District 9 has been criticised for forgetting itself halfway through and slipping into a mindless action flick. I don't see it quite like that. To me, this is just part of the film gradually ramping up the excitement until is culminates in the final showdown. It keeps the audience awake while having some fun with the premise. Two words: Alien Weapons. Who wouldn't want to see an alien lightning gun decimate a platoon of soldiers armed with conventional weapons? Communists, that's who.

I have not trouble giving District 9 four flying pigs out of five. Go see this movie.

¹ No, I don't have a problem with calling it that.     ² I'm looking at you, Transformers 1 & 2.