I am dumbfounded. Blomkamp's feature reveals the deepest shades of human nature in the most surprising format. Its allegorical backbone for South African politics and general racial profiling extends into the most meaningful and touching sci-fi that has yet been made. Its tight script and inverted story makes for one of the best dramatic trajectories of any film. I am simply dumbfounded.The film follows MNU agent Wikus Van De Merwe as he is assigned to deliver 24 hour eviction notices to the aliens forced to live in slum-like conditions in Johannesburg. The slum, referred to as District 9, is a gated community for the aliens where they can live without disrupting human life. However, they need to be moved outside of the city as the human population is not happy of the creatures called 'prawns' to be living so close to them, hence the eviction. During the eviction visits, things go awry as one of the prawns resists. What follows is a unique story told in effective cinematography where we learn through Wikus what an alien really is.
Peter Jackson definitely uncovered a gem here by producing District 9. Everything from the script, the acting to the special effects are present in the right quantities. Nothing takes over for the sake of Hollywood, which means the film isn't sacrificed. The faux documentary style in the beginning especially stands out for the genre and immediately aids the suspension of disbelief. The viewer is quickly pulled in and convinced that the story is real.
Peter Jackson definitely uncovered a gem here by producing District 9. Everything from the script, the acting to the special effects are present in the right quantities. Nothing takes over for the sake of Hollywood, which means the film isn't sacrificed. The faux documentary style in the beginning especially stands out for the genre and immediately aids the suspension of disbelief. The viewer is quickly pulled in and convinced that the story is real.
Above all though, considering that this is a film about aliens, what is most striking is that the film reeks and oozes human, to the point where the boundaries of alien and human converge, when the alien saliva becomes natural, and us unnatural.
Humans are only defined by themselves. How so? The term 'alien' is subjunctive or unnecessary as it is a human creation, and by definition, it actually defines us humans more than the alien itself. Blomkamp's film just goes to show that it only takes one human to make an alien, no matter which universe, planet, country, city, race...we're from.
