Saturday, September 19, 2009
District 9
What a film! I loved it, loved it, loved it, in spite of the violence.
Generally, heavy violence in movies is a deal breaker for me. I avoid war movies like the plague. I haven’t seen Saving Private Ryan, Eastwood’s WWII oeuvre, or most of the well-known mafia movies.
In District 9 the violence and gore did not spoil my enjoyment of the movie at all.
District 9 is the story of aliens from a refugee ship that has been parked over Johannesburg for 20 years. The aliens look insectoid but walk upright and are much taller than humans. They have been banished to an interment camp in a neighborhood of Johannesburg called district 9. The movie is partially presented in documentary/news reporting format. There are reporters and “expert” narrations of the events.
The thing that won me over the most was how utterly real the portrayal of human nature seemed. The internment camp looked like a favela in Rio or a neighborhood the west bank or one of the many refugee camps of Africa. The comments by the locals about their distrust of the aliens could have referred to so many minority or displaced people. Then the bug-like appearance of the aliens was repellent to humans to justify their horrible treatment including the brutality and experimentation. The portrayal of the Nigerian gangs who moved into District 9 to exploit the plight of the aliens was dead on too. The main human character, Wikus van der Merwe, is self-serving and patronizing by turns. As his situation deteriorates and he finds that working with the aliens is his only salvation he sabotages his only means of escape. In the end he does realize that he must align with the aliens but by then it is mostly too late. I can’t wait for District 10!
Generally, heavy violence in movies is a deal breaker for me. I avoid war movies like the plague. I haven’t seen Saving Private Ryan, Eastwood’s WWII oeuvre, or most of the well-known mafia movies.
In District 9 the violence and gore did not spoil my enjoyment of the movie at all.
District 9 is the story of aliens from a refugee ship that has been parked over Johannesburg for 20 years. The aliens look insectoid but walk upright and are much taller than humans. They have been banished to an interment camp in a neighborhood of Johannesburg called district 9. The movie is partially presented in documentary/news reporting format. There are reporters and “expert” narrations of the events.
The thing that won me over the most was how utterly real the portrayal of human nature seemed. The internment camp looked like a favela in Rio or a neighborhood the west bank or one of the many refugee camps of Africa. The comments by the locals about their distrust of the aliens could have referred to so many minority or displaced people. Then the bug-like appearance of the aliens was repellent to humans to justify their horrible treatment including the brutality and experimentation. The portrayal of the Nigerian gangs who moved into District 9 to exploit the plight of the aliens was dead on too. The main human character, Wikus van der Merwe, is self-serving and patronizing by turns. As his situation deteriorates and he finds that working with the aliens is his only salvation he sabotages his only means of escape. In the end he does realize that he must align with the aliens but by then it is mostly too late. I can’t wait for District 10!
Labels: movies
# posted by blue-foot Sue @ 2:37 PM 
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