Film Review: District 9

Posted by: – Aug 14, 2009

To begin with, I will say that the marketing team behind District 9 has done a fantastic job of concealing what this film is actually all about. The earliest trailers implied a slow drama about government oppression of alien visitors. The more recent trailers and television commercials shifted the focus, creating the impression that the movie would be more of a science fiction action film. The commercials show off a lot of battles between aliens and humans, and seem to be more in line with what one would expect from a summer movie. I’m happy to report that District 9 falls into a perfect middle ground between these two extremes. There is political commentary, but it is not heavy handed, nor is it the sole focus of the film. There is also a lot of action, but the film smartly builds to it, and none of it is done for the sole purpose of spectacle (though rest assured, the effects are spectacular). The result is a film that is both thoughtful and exciting, and definitely very satisfying.

The film begins as a faux documentary. We learn that a giant alien spaceship entered our atmosphere and settled to a hover over Johannesburg, South Africa 20 years ago. After weeks of failed attempts to communicate with the ship, the South African government authorized troops to fly up in helicopters and cut through the hull to gain access to the ship. Instead of an invasion force, the troops discovered a large population of bug-like aliens who are all starving and dying. The government provided aid for the aliens and set up the titular area just outside Johannesburg with hundreds of small shacks for the aliens to reside in. In order to keep a sense of security for the human populace, District 9 was fenced off and huge restrictions were placed on the aliens freedoms. The area gradually became a crime ridden slum, and distrust of the aliens, derisively called Prawns, grew.

We learn all of this in the first few minutes of the film. The focus then shifts to Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copely), an office worker at MNU, the government agency in charge of alien affairs. He has been placed in charge of an important project. After 20 years of growing crime in District 9, the government has ordered that all the Prawns be moved to a new camp that is further away from the main city. Wikus is faced with the task of entering District 9 with a group of soldiers in order to make all of the Prawns sign eviction papers to make the relocation run smoothly. The aliens are, after all, legal residents, despite their limited rights. I will not spoil what happens to Wikus while on this assignment, but he quickly develops a different perspective on the harsh government treatment of the Prawns. He teams up with a particularly smart Prawn named Christopher Johnson (it is not stated whether the aliens took human names voluntarily or if they were forced to) in order to find a way for the aliens to escape back to their mother ship and leave Earth.

Much of the above may sound incredibly boring, but this is not a film about aliens filling out paperwork. We are exposed to all of this in order to better understand the conditions in which the aliens are forced to live, and how the government keeps them trapped in a decaying slum. It seems so real that, were it not for the CGI aliens populating the screen, one might mistake the film for actual news footage. On the strength of this compelling back story, the two man liberation mission that Wikus and Christopher Johnson embark on achieves greater levels of excitement than would have been possible if the filmmakers had decided to jump into the action earlier in the film.

The film offers two central action scenes, both of which are enthralling. One finds Wikus and Christopher Johnson storming the MNU offices in search of captured alien supplies. They each carry high powered Prawn weapons, one of which has the delightfully gruesome ability to make a man burst like a balloon, and have a massive firefight with a group of MNU mercenaries. The other scene is the one from the recent trailers. Wikus, in a robotic alien combat suit, and Christopher Johnson race through the streets of District 9 while being pursued by a massive military force.

Both of the scenes are exciting, but neither is perfect. In the first scene, we see Christopher Johnson have a MacGyver moment. Pinned down in the basement of the MNU building, Christopher grabs three pieces of alien technology off of a table, snaps them together while running and dodging gunfire, and declares that he has “made a bomb!” which he uses to great effect. The second scene sees far too many cuts made to Wikus’ face inside the robotic suit. It seems every time he fires his gun, the movie cuts to a close up on his face as he screams in rage. The flaws are very minor and most certainly do not detract from the film as a whole, or even the specific scenes in which they occur. I feel it necessary to mention, though, because the first half of the film did such a thorough job of absorbing me in, that I must note the issues that pulled me back out again.

I very much enjoyed the dynamic of this film. I liked the way the faux documentary gradually led up to the exciting battle scenes. Unfortunately, judging from some of the reactions I overheard as people were leaving the theater, it did not seem as though everyone enjoyed the surprise created by the misleading advertising campaign as much as I did. Many people were complaining about the lack of action. I can only assume that they were expecting an alien invasion movie because of the recent trailers. I can see how this movie might disappoint if viewed with such expectations. However, if you are prepared for a film that is going to take the time to build up to the action, I believe you will find District 9 as engaging as I did.

By Gareth Mussen