Review: District 9 (2009)

[Homer Yen]

"District 9"  -- The Outer Limits of a Buddy-Buddy Movie
by Homer Yen
(c) 2009

Summer's best surprise may have just come out this weekend at the
theatres.  It's the under-marketed, little-hyped film called "District
9".  It has a no-name cast, a gritty parable of Apartheid, and is
unexpectedly transfixing.

The film is depicted as a kind of documentary - something you might
see on the History Channel.  As the film opens, dozens of people are
recounting the District 9 campaign and pondering over the mystery
surrounding the fate of that campaign's leader, Wikus van der Merwe.

The backstory tells of an alien ship that, 20 years ago, somehow winds
up a few miles above Johannesburg, South Africa.  On it are over a
million alien beings that resemble "prawns".   Marooned on our planet
and in need of assistance, a humanitarian initiative created District
9, where the aliens could live.  Consider this place something of a
slum-meets-refugee-camp.  In those two decades, tensions between the
alien race and the humans have risen.  Living conditions at District 9
are squalid at best.  These unwanted immigrants are ugly.  I wouldn't
have been surprised if the prawns somehow developed a taste for human
flesh.  With fear in the human population rising, a risky campaign has
been initiated to move all 1 million-plus aliens to a new settlement
farther away from civilization.

This monumental administrative task falls on the shoulders of a meek
and clueless bureaucrat Wikus van der Merwe.  Not understanding at all
the dangers that he faces, he takes a platoon of security personnel
into District 9 and begins going door-to-door to get the aliens to
sign consent forms regarding their eventual move.  Only one alien
seems to have an IQ that's actually higher than a prawn, and his name
is Christopher Johnson (really, it is!).

It may sound goofy.  But the story plays out as any good space opera
summer film does, yet it doesn't obliterate itself with too much
special effects.  Yes, all of the "prawns" are convincingly rendered
CGI effects, but there is a sense of humanity that begins to grip you
once the film reveals a cruel twist of fate and an unlikely alliance
that's needed to complete an against-all-odds mission.  Meanwhile, the
underlying gravitas of the story, which speaks about tyranny and
persecution, keeps the film feeling fresh.

I'm not sure how the film manages to hold it together.  In this
District, we have Nigerian gangsters, short-sighted bureaucrats,
weapons of semi-mass destruction, a bent-for-revenge soldier, a
mutant, and cat food that all play important parts.  These all share
the same space and, amazingly, at no point do you even question the
disconnectedness of these elements.  I think that this would really be
an excellent video game for the Xbox 360.  The film becomes more
intriguing and more thrilling as the story moves along.  While the
political questions are never answered, it's a good film with a strong
message.  And, I'm hoping that there will be a "District 10".

Grade:	B+

S:	1 out of 3
L:	3 out of 3
V:	3 out of 3