District 9

When an alien race comes to earth and is confined to slum-like ghettos, a government official sent to evict the population is exposed to an extraterrestrial biochemical.

District 9

Written and directed by South African director Neill Blomkamp, District 9 won several awards and was nominated for four academy awards Adapted Screenplay and Visual Effects.

District 9 paints a picture of the parts of human nature that we would rather ignore, namely, the tendencies to dehumanize those we perceive as outsiders. The gritty realism of the filmmaking style adds to the discomfort, as the events are "documented" in a way that, were it not for the presence of aliens from space, would not look out of place on real-life news outlets.

The cleverest thing about District 9 is the creativity behind the way the core themes are depicted. Its lessons about prejudice and segregation could have been told by telling the stories of real-life people subjected to discrimination and hostility on the basis of culture, beliefs etc. But by using a fictional story and the popular genres of sci-fi and fantasy as a lens for these themes, the film is instantly opened up to a wider and possibly more consumerist audience. This increases the viewer demographic of the film and still offers satisfactory entertainment for those who want it.

Another aspect that I really liked was the key protagonist characters. They are easy for the viewer to sympathise with and you find yourself rooting for them from fairly early on. The main human character of Wikus and the key alien character of Christopher Johnson have very different personalities and circumstances, but this is gradually overcome when Wikus begins the alien transformation and they are forced to work together to pursue common interests. This was fascinating as it showed the character arc of each of them: Wikus; beginning to sympathise more and identify with the beings he has essentially worked to control for his whole career, Christopher; learning that the human race is not made up solely of spiteful individuals with the objective of oppressing the aliens.

One thing that possibly detracts from the film was the character of Koobus, the military colonel who hates Wikus and the aliens. He felt like a fairly 2-dimensional villain, and it seemed unclear what his motives were for being such a callous, violent antagonist. I felt this character could have been developed a bit more, and he came dangerously close to being clichéd.

I believe District 9 is one of the film masterpieces of the early 21st century. The creative thinking behind it and the pensive reflection of human failure is ultimately the driving force behind the film.

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Eban Lewis

Eban Lewis

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1 Comments

  • Luke Taylor

    On 23 November 2017, 10:24 Luke Taylor Contributor commented:

    District 9 is fantastic film!

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