Film: Thoughts on District 9
District 9’s been coming under a bit of flack lately for its alleged racism towards the Nigerian populace of its unspecified-time-in-the-future Johannesburg. The lady and I plodded along to see it earlier today, and there’s certainly a talking point there. It’s relevant, though superceded by the utter lunacy of the rest of the film. Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson’s new science-fiction piece is mightily strange, conceptually flawed and often incredibly silly. Yet the touching threads and overt Apartheid metaphors running through District 9’s heart manage to hold together surprisingly well. For all its quirks, this is a gripping work of cinema.
Knowing I wanted to go into this fairly blind, I’d intentionally steered clear of District 9-related material prior to my viewing. The result, of course, is that I’d little idea what it was about. I knew it was aliens, and I knew – from reading up on the race row stuff – that it was filled with societal observations and commentary. What I’d assumed is a sort of political Independence Day – which, in its increasingly action-packed state, it does stray towards later on. But the opening is remarkably different.
We start out in faux-documentary style, as we’re filled in on the details. Twenty years ago, aliens landed on Earth. We packed them into a community, a slum, all 1.8 million of them. We treated them as second-class citizens, not allowing them to mingle with… well, white society, basically. There’s a large gang of Nigerians who live amongst them, which we’ll get back to in a bit. The main point of interest here is that, as District 9 begins, aliens have lived among us for two decades, the panic is long over, and a social hierarchy has been cemented. This is no alien invasion movie. This is what happens afterwards.
It’s an interesting concept, uniquely presented and raising plenty of questions. As a thought-piece, it’s often highly successful, inviting the audience to consider social climates on a whole new level. It’s also aesthetically tremendous, with the astonishing alien mothership looming ominously in the sky for the entire duration of the film. It’s an impressive cinematic achievement, even through its odd shaky-cam cliché and uninspired alien design.
Such design, like many seemingly arbitrary items in District 9, serves its purpose. This is a film designed to challenge prejudices, and presenting such an obviously alien image yet ramming home the idea that these creatures are actually not so different works well. It’s an us-versus-them film in which, from the outset, it’s clear that the division isn’t so huge.
The main problem, unfortunately, is the depection of the Nigerian gang. The aliens are our unlikely point of identification. The white South African government may be behaving abhorrently, but the underlying reasons – fear, and a drive for technological advancements – are ones we can at least somewhat understand. The Nigerians are perplexing. They feast on alien flesh in the hope to gain superhuman powers. They exploit and extort everyone who crosses their paths. Their leader is a cold-blooded, power hungry fiend who utterly craves what the aliens have. And though I’m sure it’s all overblown theatrics rather than anything more sinister, cementing one ethnic group as so radically different from the rest is a clumsy decision, in a film about everyone ultimately being the same.
Elsewhere, there’s a major conflict between District 9’s hard-hitting commentary and its increasingly frequent moments of knowing obscenity. The story of an alien family’s plight is an engrossing and distinctly humanistic one, but by the time the film sees its protagonist fusing himself into a giant robot suit and flinging pigs at an oncoming gun-squad, it starts to lose its spark a little. It often doesn’t seem to know whether to tell jokes or ask for introspection, and while both approaches are fine, the ferociousness with which District 9 throws them together leaves the film feeling a little erratic.
It’s worth seeing. I’m sure of that. It’s one of the most bizarre, surreal, oddly moving yet wryly amusing pieces of cinema I’ve seen in some time. Whether it’s actually any good or not is something I’ve not decided. Lady and I both enjoyed it, and while it’s easy to pick apart, I can’t imagine many people coming away feeling hugely disappointed. Its problems just cut through a little too much, taking that special shine away from what could have been a truly important sci-fi gem.
Comments feed
Good film. It’s a shame about the second half.
Good film. It’s a shame about the first half.
…Which I think sums the film up perfectly. It’s totally two halves, and different people are going to enjoy different bits. The second half is totally videogame, I thought – in fact, there were a few occasions where I found myself thinking this would be awesome in game format, but is less awsome filmically.
I actually found the first half a lot more interesting, though there’s little denying the supercool of the second.
I actually didn’t think there were two halves the action didn’t seem sperate to me it seemed like the first half was building to the second half. I don’t know why they decided to subtitle the black people who could be clearly heard but i do get why they did the black people story of them eating the aliens. It makes the fil ma lot better because it shows both the whotes and blacks not really caring about the aliens which says that both of them can be racist and there nto different at all.
Anyway loved this movie.
yeah i thought the first half worked a lot better than the second half, with an excellent lead performance by Sharlto Copley.
overall i found it quite a depressing film, my sympathies lying very much with ‘the prawn’ population.
regarding the charges of racism, i felt that all races came out of district 9 looking pretty bad, with both the military industrial complex of the white characters and the gangland/superstition of the nigerians simply serving to highlight the equally appalling extremes of human nature.
Great film, shame about nothing, motherfudgers ;). That film, in my opinion, was the best sci-fi cinematic experience I’ve ever had. I’m talking Star Wars included.
I think one of the best decisions was to base it around a nerdy South African white male. He’s absolutely adorable in every way, and his accent lends an air of innocence to him. Had he been American a lot of his dialogue would have come out as petulant and irritating at best; but in this case, he looks at everything with an almost childlike sense of wonder.
I think the only “race” that looked like a complete bunch of see you next Tuesdays was the human race. Interestingly, the Prawns first landed in 1982, the year the “other” f*ck the humans film came out: E.T.. The two films share a common theme; an exposition of the human race as a science-obsessed race willing to sacrifice anything to make gains, but always as factions and never as a species.
I think the film asked a lot of questions that politicians are yet to answer. Look at the way the Prawns were treated; refugee camps? They should have been embraced, given high-paying jobs and then perhaps they would have been more keen to share their technology. But it was at least geographically realistic; they didn’t land over Tokyo, London, New York, Los Angeles; Johannesburg, possibly the most random location, but also an area that really did reflect the contraversial idea that, for once, the aliens might be more disorganised and generally f*cked than we are.
Let’s not mess around – the whole film was a huge re-imagining of the Apartheid. No one in the press wants to go there, but let’s be honest, the Prawns were there to represent those who were racially discriminated against during that horrible period of racially motivated violence. I loved the portrayal of the Nigerian gang, simply because I was actually rooting for them at one point. When he’s about to get seriously stuffed by the military, everyone holds their breath. My first thought was “come on, gangers, go geddem!” And they did, and I cheered in the cinema, and my girlfriend probably thought I’d had an aneurysm. But f*ck it, I’ve never cheered at a film before.
As for all of this “first half, second half” bullcrap – what halves? In terms of narrative I can see you’re thinking of it pre and post-Wikus’ rebellion against his employers, but that’s never a sudden occurance. His transformation, though edited to an almost montage-esque pace, is not an instantaneous thing. Neither his his decision to defect: it is forced on him. I don’t think the film has two halves, I think the film is the middle third of a colossal sci-fi universe. First third being the invasion, which we see briefly, and the final third which will be when Christopher returns with his son and the rest of his race in three years.
I think the thing that made me vote this film into my all-time top five was the last shot of Wikus and the flower (to say it without ruining things). That’s the sort of shot you’d expect AFTER the credits, and not before. It’s wonderful they chose to show that, and his transition both physically and mentally is moving to the extreme. He reminds me of Michael Jackson in the sense that his actions forced his change of appearance on himself, and he had to deal with the consequences, transforming his own mentality in turn – though in this case, he’s changed (in my opinion) for the positive, whereas Michael went slightly off the wall over the course of his life.
I’ll stop rambling. Great site and I hope to see more from you all, especially on stuff like this. Good article, Lewis.
And another comment, while I’m here, muaha – as for the last third I mentioned in three years time, looks like director Blomkamp is aiming for a sequel but “only if this film is successful enough.” Somehow I think it was. Bring on the prawns.
Just to address a couple of things there:
I think it’s totally two halves, but not necessarily divided in half, if you know what I mean. The first 70 per cent of the film is reall subtle, despite the occasional madhat sense of humour. It changes wildly once the mad military guy turns up, and once Wikus and Christopher decide to storm the facility. It turns, completely barmily, into a video game, and becomes more about the ’splodes than anything else.
I agree: that final scene is a really moving one, though I viewed it in exactly the opposite way. As in, the transformation was *only* physical. Of course, that was the moral of the entire piece: that appearences are often the only thing that divides us. Ebert wrote that Christopher was the only alien that showed a shred of compassion. I’d say that’s nonsense. They behave in exactly the way any of us would if we were being illegally turfed out of our property, off our land. As I think I said in the post itself: it’s an incredibly, touchingly human portrayal of the aliens.
As for the Apartheid thing, I’d say that’s pretty much a given, which is why there hasn’t been a huge amount of discussion. That’s why they landed over Johannesburg, more than it being geographically sensible. It’s a great, whopping metaphor, and an excellent one to boot.
I agree completely, and I do think it did go all-out on dialogue-less combat for the last half an hour, but I do like the way they resisted temptation in terms of the sequence of events. I expected him to JUST make it into the ship using the dropship hidden under the house, and then bam, things are sorted, he gets healed, everyone’s happy. Instead it crashes, and he never gets healed. Though it’s interesting that I say “healed,” and I suppose that’s what’s seperates me from the adorable prawn people.
It was big on splodes, but the splodes were bloody brilliant; I’d love that gun, as a victim of London crime more often than I’d like (preferably never, really, hah). I think his transformation wasn’t in his personality, though, but more his beliefs and the way he percieved a racial group that a few days before had been him going *puts on SA accent* “LOOKADDEM PRAUWNSZ! HEEZ ARM CAYEEM RIGHT OWF MAYTE!” :D
I think anyone who thinks Christopher was the only prawn to show emotion is an eejit. His son? The rest of their race? Bizarre, and if that’s Ebert of the forename Roger, he’s a cinematic f*cking idiot, proven time and time again by his relentless attacks on Kevin Smith and the hilarious amount of narrative-based ignorance he shows in his reviews. Fie on him, I say.
This site is good for discussion. Review books, sir!
Will leave comment for cat food.