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District 9 And Its New Take On Alien Invasions
2 CommentsI really didn’t know what to expect from this movie. It definitely was hyped enough so I had lot’s of expectations, most of which were met, some of which were exceeded, and some of which were a bit of a miss.
Alien invasions are nothing new to sci-fi stories and film, but the vast majority of them depict mean aliens attacking inferior humans. Most of the time humans end up winning by some weird stroke of luck (Independence Day, et al).
**SPOILER WARNING**
What District 9 did, however, is show a different take on alien invasions. First of all, it was really not an “invasion” movie as it tried to be more a film about racism and events the likes of the early Nazi/WWII era concentration camps and the Japanese internment camps in the US after Pearl Harbor. The interesting thing was that the film made it more of a point to show the animal side in us rather than make us pity the aliens.
The film takes place 20 years after the aliens arrived in South Africa (Johannesburg to be exact). During which this dying race of aliens has been kept in an internment camp in horrible conditions, many of them starving, and violence throughout. The idea is definitely original and its take on alien technologies and action throughout were, to say the least, amazing. Overall I have to say I was quite entertained by the film, but it still had many imperfections.
The main character of the film is basically the only 3 dimensional character in the film. Humans as a whole are portrayed as evil, racist animals (which we are), and the aliens, which obviously surpass us in technology by thousands of years and therefore in intelligence as well, as simple creatures. The problem I had was that it tried so hard to be “deep” showing our animal side, but in the end every human character was a simple 2-dimensional mean guy. If that’s the route you wanna go, you gotta show me something with the aliens; personality, culture, whatever. But we get nothing. We get the same 2-dimensional characters that are dumb as a rock with the exception of the leader who is smarter than the bunch. Instead, we’re given a human “hero” that is weak, selfish, and quite moronic whom I end up not caring for in the smallest bit.
This “hero” was one of the most confusing characters and he’s pretty much the only one in the whole film. He begins as a dumb racist official whom we don’t care for, then the filmmakers try to make us feel sorry for him, then not so much again since he turns completely selfish, then again root for him to save the day, then not so much again…. then, yes? I’m sorry, but making a little tin flower for your cardboard wife won’t make me feel sorry for you. You’re in that situation because you’re a moron, and you deserve to be.
The film is also a bit confused in that it doesn’t know if it wants to be a mocumentary or fiction. It continuously blends between the two at times confusing me and making me think that there’s supposed to be a guy there filming, but no there isn’t. Then at the end it’s a full blown fiction film. Kind of strange.
I don’t mean to bash the film because it was very entertaining and like I said very creative. I only scrutinize it because I liked it quite a bit and just hoped that it would have been better. I have moderate hopes for the sequel.
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2 Responses to “District 9 And Its New Take On Alien Invasions”
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D9 was interesting not for what it included, but for what it left out. No heavy-handed Hollywood moralizing. Shiftless violent aliens kept in camps to protect them and humans. Humans who begin a rescue mission but dissolve into placing the aliens in internment camps. No explanation as to why the ship is disabled, how the apparently lazy aliens could have piloted the ship, why they are here, what they want. And there is no easy explanation of what can be done about them. They are “managed” by a Multi-national corporation (reminds me of Blackwater). And most of this is passed over with a casual matter-of-factness that we seldom see in movies. The facts are almost boring to the players in the movie. The protagonist is as un-heroic and uninteresting as any we’ve ever seen. His task seems simple enough, but even that he buggers up. Only when things go desperately wrong does the movie turn to more action. This movie doesn’t feel like any movie I’ve ever seen.
*******Lots of Spoilers in my Comment********
I have to agree with you on your take on the film. Though I have to say, I disagree with you on your opinion on the mocumentary/conventional film making. The way that Director Neil was able to combine the two VERY different types of videography was very interesting and refreshing to say the least. Can’t recall the last time I’ve seen that type of style and in all honesty, it won’t be the last. What was interesting was how seamlessly he was able to switch from one style to the next without jarring the audience too much. I am willing to bet your life (I’m too vain to bet mine) that we’ll be seeing tons of stupid youtube videos attempting to achieve this type of style.
That being said, there are certain areas that the film could have done better in. After talking to you, I really put some thought into this and how or even why the director chose/left/forgot to fill in these blanks. Yes, as Daniel says, the film was interesting for what it left out but in any good story, there are certain things that you can’t leave out. I understand the message that the director wanted to portray. But there really wasn’t any connection with either the Prawns or the Humans. As the audience, we couldn’t sympathize with any sides. All the ooh’s and the ahh’s in the theater was not the audience rooting for one side or the other but merely the joy of seeing shit getting zapped and blown up. We didn’t give a flying fuck who the fuck died or who got zapped. We just wanted whatever the fuck that could get zapped to be zapped. There was no connection.
The only connection that I felt was with Wikis. He’s truly the only 3 dimensional character in the film. Everyone else was bad. There was no good side to anybody. The humans wanted to evict and do tests and shit. Fuck them. Division 1 or Battalion 1 whatever the fuck they are liked to kill Prawns. Fuck them. The Prawns like cat food and fight and fuck shit up. Fuck them too. Even Christopher wasn’t a 3 dimensional character. He’s a typical Hollywood leader. Obviously intelligent, stops fighting when he sees his people as test subjects, fucking nice. We can assume that he was the Captain of the ship since he knew how to fly the damn thing. But if he was the Captain…WHY THE FUCK DOES HE ONLY HAVE 1 PERSON WORKING FOR HIM? (as well as his son but his son doesn’t have a choice. His dad made him help so that doesn’t count)
The film had a lot of opportunity to get some really great messages across but it stopped short at ACTION MOVIE instead of taking the next step into OSCAR WORTHY MOVIE. I honestly felt that it had the potential to win an Oscar if certain areas were filled in. That being said, as his first feature film, Bravo Mr. Director. I had a fucking blast watching shit die. I walked out of the theater wanting to see more of those bullet stopping robots, laser guns, zapping and blowing up, and shit dying left and right. Fucking Righteous.
Little fun tidbit about the film:
They had a script but everything that Wikis did was improv. Neil basically told Sharlto to do whatever the fuck he felt was right in the moment as long he he hit certain points that would help the film along. Amazing work by Sharlto and Neil Blomkamp.
ak.47