District 9
Special Bonus Movie Preview
District 9
On Sunday night, at a meeting, a friend said "Who's free tomorrow night? I've got a free double pass to a movie preview and I can't go."
"What movie?" we asked.
"Something called District 9"
"I'll take it!" I screamed excitedly.
Then the hard part was finding someone also free on short notice to come with me... in the end, Lefty (who I've not seen in a few years) took me up on the offer and so we headed to Marion to see this special preview.
District 9 isn't a big Hollywood blockbuster. Most scifi geeks like me are enthusiastic to see it because of the reports about it from Comic-Con, and the fact that it's "presented by" Peter Jackson.
To tell you too much about the plot would give away things that are better seen firsthand, so I'll just explain the story premise, which is all explained before the opening titles.
20 years ago, an alien mothership arrived in Earth's atmosphere and stopped above - no, not New York or Washington or LA, but Johannesburg, South Africa. For three months nothing happened, until humans cut into the ship and found over a million malnourished aliens - refugees, outcasts, who knows?
The aliens were given a camp to settle in on the outskirts of Jo'burg and over the next two decades it turned into a militarised slum, and the alien population was kept segregated from humans. Now, it's time for the private military consortium MNU to serve eviction notices to the aliens so they can be moved from District 9 to a brand new camp 270km away from Jo'burg and other major human population centres.
And that's how the movie begins. The whole thing is mostly shot in a documentary style - with camera interviews of "talking heads" and vox pop, intercut with "archive footage" of the events that are being described. So this means a lot of steadicam, but it's not nearly as shaky or disturbing as in "Public Enemies" from last week. No eyestrain for me :) Various elements of the plot (which I won't spoil) will be familiar to sci-fi fans, but they seem much more believable in this context possibly due to the documentary style filming.
The obvious parallels with apartheid aren't dwelled upon - there's no explicit message about the evil and inhumanity of segregation and treating another "type" of person as less worthy, but you get this message purely in the background of the main plot. If this were an American film, you'd have the message shoved down your throat by the heroic patriotic do-goody protagonist. In this movie, there aren't really any good guys at all. The human protagonist is a bit of a bastard and a racist towards the aliens until circumstances change him, but he's also a coward who's main interest is self preservation. The aliens themselves are mostly savage and disgusting (to human eyes), but a few of them have redeeming qualities of intelligence and hope, and the struggle for survival.
So if you're looking for a good scifi film that serves as an allegory for the human condition, that doesn't have cliche characters, and is a step away from a lot of the mindless dreck Hollywood produces, then definitely make sure you see District 9.
9/10
District 9
On Sunday night, at a meeting, a friend said "Who's free tomorrow night? I've got a free double pass to a movie preview and I can't go."
"What movie?" we asked.
"Something called District 9"
"I'll take it!" I screamed excitedly.
Then the hard part was finding someone also free on short notice to come with me... in the end, Lefty (who I've not seen in a few years) took me up on the offer and so we headed to Marion to see this special preview.
District 9 isn't a big Hollywood blockbuster. Most scifi geeks like me are enthusiastic to see it because of the reports about it from Comic-Con, and the fact that it's "presented by" Peter Jackson.
To tell you too much about the plot would give away things that are better seen firsthand, so I'll just explain the story premise, which is all explained before the opening titles.
20 years ago, an alien mothership arrived in Earth's atmosphere and stopped above - no, not New York or Washington or LA, but Johannesburg, South Africa. For three months nothing happened, until humans cut into the ship and found over a million malnourished aliens - refugees, outcasts, who knows?
The aliens were given a camp to settle in on the outskirts of Jo'burg and over the next two decades it turned into a militarised slum, and the alien population was kept segregated from humans. Now, it's time for the private military consortium MNU to serve eviction notices to the aliens so they can be moved from District 9 to a brand new camp 270km away from Jo'burg and other major human population centres.
And that's how the movie begins. The whole thing is mostly shot in a documentary style - with camera interviews of "talking heads" and vox pop, intercut with "archive footage" of the events that are being described. So this means a lot of steadicam, but it's not nearly as shaky or disturbing as in "Public Enemies" from last week. No eyestrain for me :) Various elements of the plot (which I won't spoil) will be familiar to sci-fi fans, but they seem much more believable in this context possibly due to the documentary style filming.
The obvious parallels with apartheid aren't dwelled upon - there's no explicit message about the evil and inhumanity of segregation and treating another "type" of person as less worthy, but you get this message purely in the background of the main plot. If this were an American film, you'd have the message shoved down your throat by the heroic patriotic do-goody protagonist. In this movie, there aren't really any good guys at all. The human protagonist is a bit of a bastard and a racist towards the aliens until circumstances change him, but he's also a coward who's main interest is self preservation. The aliens themselves are mostly savage and disgusting (to human eyes), but a few of them have redeeming qualities of intelligence and hope, and the struggle for survival.
So if you're looking for a good scifi film that serves as an allegory for the human condition, that doesn't have cliche characters, and is a step away from a lot of the mindless dreck Hollywood produces, then definitely make sure you see District 9.
9/10