Review: District 9
Thursday, March 18th, 2010I haven’t seen Invictus yet, but still, District 9 is the best movie set in South Africa I’ve seen in a long time.
In short, District 9 is Avatar plus The Hurt Locker, divided by 2, plus 28 Days Later. But for all that went into it, and came out of it, I liked District 9 more than all of them. It does a better job of storytelling than Avatar, casts a wider net than The Hurt Locker (or seems to), and has a similar excitement to, but is deeper and more touching than, 28 Days Later.
In the movie, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is an excitable corporate worker and government operative selected to spearhead the eviction and relocation of an alien population from District 9 in Johannesburg to internment camps outside the city. In Copley, I see a lot of Craig Ferguson, and a little Christian Bale – he’s a wide-eyed, orderly guy who opens the movie with enthusiasm. His cheerfulness fades, but not his optimism. He’s shown to be quite capable, resilient and realistic when the severity of his predicament sets in.
There’s a lot to like in this movie. For one, I enjoy how the aliens are introduced, without fanfare, really – more like they’re just humans of another race (rather than emphasizing the fact that they’re extra-terrestrial ooooh). That sets a good tone for the parallels exist between the movie and South Africa in the era of apartheid. Comparisons aren’t heavy-handed, or preachy, or overwhelming. Often in movies of this type, the aliens revolt and get real angry and find national landmarks to blow up, but in this movie they’re oppressed, shown rather sparingly, and when they are, it’s generally as decent beings as defensive as any other race on earth.
District 9 reminds me of The Hurt Locker in some of the visuals, the mise en scene of battle. The device of the news/documentary for purposes of exposition is done with a light touch – the people speak more from the heart, are more willing to speculate rather than just being talking heads explaining what’s been going on. The hints of foreshadowing add some flavor, too.
Can’t forget to note the appearance of the mech suit, seen recently in Avatar. I’m now convinced that whenever this shows up, there’s commentary having to deal with the fragility of the human body, of an increasing reliance on technology, and on a slightly different tack, of the “ghost in the machine,” sort of; how the human spirit is, for better or worse, tethered to a corporeal form. The symbolism isn’t as clear or obvious as in the fight scenes of Avatar, but I think it’s worth mentioning as a go-to device in sci-fi movies.
Maybe it’s silly of me to compare genres here: it’s tough to argue that District 9, say, should have won the Oscar over The Hurt Locker, for several reasons I won’t get into in this very last paragraph. But it further surpasses other “alien movies” than The Hurt Locker does other “war movies.” I will say that. It’s excellent, nonetheless.
4 stars
