District 9 Review

In District 9, aliens come to Earth, and their neither cuddly in the E.T. vein or horribly menacing in the...Alien vein. A little brutish, sure, but this is still one of the most even-handed portraits of aliens I've ever seen in a film.

The aliens come not to invade, but because they can't leave, and are apparently quite sick. They are moved to a ghetto in Johannesburg, South Africa, above which their giant ship constantly hovers. They stay, and over a few years, they establish a permanent residence, which becomes a slum. Their population becomes ridden with crime and poverty, and are subjected to...racism, by the locals. (Speciesism? Planetism?)

It's a setup that leaves a few questions; the director uses a lot of quick-cuts to establish a documentary feel, and I'm sure a few more answers are hidden in the early scenes. Still, there's a lot we don't know about the aliens, and the film doesn't seem to care. Though some found the aliens difficult to care for because of their decidedly-not-cuddly appearance, I found the same difficult because I could only occasionally tell what the aliens' intentions as a race were.

Instead, it chooses to focus on the forced eviction of the aliens from District 9 to 10, the MNU operative Wilkus Mewe, and the various issues that spring from living in District 9. This is a good thing: the character (amongst other things) undergoes a major transformation, and is both believable and realistic. He begins the film working for MNU, an international weapons company that manages the slum, and is head of the mission to relocate the aliens. After an incounter with an alien device suddenly makes him very valuable, he finds himself on the run, hiding in the very same District.

The story has an obvious parallel with the apartheid that occurred in South America a few decades ago, as well as any story involving a mistreated ethnic group, or ghetto. The film doesn't ram the message down our throats, thankfully, but the director's intent is clear, and the film shows a crude, cruel world that confirms everything bad you've ever suspected about politicians, police, criminals, desperate men and the injustices present within the human heart. Perhaps it revels a little too much in pointing out the wrongdoing of all humans (and some aliens), but as a racial allegory, I suppose it has reason to do so.

The film is action-packed, intelligent, and well-made. It's one of the best films of the summer, and it comes highly recommended.