Movie Review: "District 9"

It´s usually pretty easy to decide whether you like a movie. If you come out of the theater feeling good, then you saw a good movie. If you come out of the theater feeling like you just wasted money you could´ve used to feed your family for a month at today´s ticket prices, then chances are the movie you saw sucked. District 9, is a different animal, and for the first time in, I guess ever, I have no idea what to think.

Twenty-something years ago, aliens basically crash landed (though not really, since their ship still hovers above Johannesburg), and in an attempt to "save" them we (as in humans) placed them in what is essentially a Hooverville-esque shantytown known as District 9, where crime among the aliens, which look like something out of Oddworld (for those nerdy enough to enjoy very obscure video games) has escalated to the point where decent, normal humans just can´t take it anymore. Now, laymen will read that (or see that in the movie) and think that´s dumb, when the reality is that, in the case of first contact, it really seems like a more authentic depiction as to what would probably happen after the whole "Oh look, we made first contact!" thing wore off and we´re faced with the realization that we have to feed and house those damn dirty Prawns.

And that´s really all I should tell you. District 9 is a movie that´s best entered blindly. So as far as story goes, the film´s message will really lose its effectiveness if you know what the hell´s going to happen. And what happens is, in a strange, sick way, incredible.

For the first hour or so of the movie everything is shot cinema verte, as seen in the numerous trailers popping up all over the planet, but not in the same vein as Cloverfield or the Blair Witch Project, which essentially used the handycam style (at least this is my theory) to hide their miniscule special effects budgets so they could show you only flashes of the film´s title characters and then call it art, and we fall for it. D9, on the other hand, is shot like a documentary, with the aliens in full view all the time, and I must say the effects work on such a tiny budget (for today´s standards) is absolutely breathtaking. Yes, the aliens are pretty much 99% CGI, but you can never really tell. They blend into their environment as seamlessly as Bumblebee and Optimus Prime blended into their´s.

Realistically, the first hour of the movie is sort of what D9 is all about. Cute, but way too obvious allegory to apartheid. But the style is simply amazing. You never feel like you´re watching actors. Our "hero," Wikis, well we really do feel for him. I´ve never seen a movie that´s felt so organic and lifelike in its delivery, enough to make you feel like there really could be giant ship hovering over South Africa right now as you read this.

But then, unfortunately, it decides to turn itself into a violent 13-year-old boy with daddy issues. And I will tell you, when I say violent, I´m talking splatter film on steroids violent. As the story progresses into its last act, the documentary-style is essentially ditched in favor of more traditional shots and is turned into a big goopy mess that´s as predictable as it is disturbing. I´ll put it to you this way (SPOILER ALERT): people, human beings, die. Lots of them. And not only do they die, they die quick, bloody deaths. There´s one thing when a human is killed in a movie, it´s another when a human, in essentially the same boat as our title character, is shot with a lightning bolt that sprays his body all over the walls, or has his head blown off, or his arm ripped off then stepped on by a mechawarrior thingy. There´s nothing wrong with killing people (don´t take that out of context) in a movie about aliens, that´s sort of expected, but it´s the dehumanizing, insignificant and violent ways in which these people die that makes the film so disturbing that you can actually feel yourself become very uncomfortable in the seat. I´m a big, tough, manly man, and even I was squeamish. But not from the gore, but rather from the sheer inhumanness of the whole thing.

But you know what? That´s the point.

And you can say that the movie simply ran out of ideas and turned into a snuff film, but the reality is that uncomfortable feeling you get is exactly how D9 wants you to feel. It exposes the flaws in humanity, making us the bad guys for the film´s final leg, while at the same time providing us with a fairly entertaining, somewhat cerebral outing.

So, is District 9 good? I don´t know. Last night, I would´ve told you I didn´t like it, but it´s one of those movies that just seems better when you sit down and reflect upon it. It´s easily one of the most interesting, most unique, most violent movies I´ve ever seen, which in itself merits that everyone should see it. Whether or not you will enjoy it is a different story. But that´s okay, because to me, District 9 isn´t really meant to be enjoyed. It´s meant to be interesting. It´s meant to be thought-provoking. It´s meant to be remembered. And it´s one I definitely will for a long, long time.

Score: 8/10