Movie summary of District 9 by Michael the Moviegoer.
DISTRICT 9 = ***
“Alien Discrimination”
On paper, “District 9” must read like the most intelligent science-fiction film to come along in decades. And it’s all there on the screen as well. A superbly performed action/drama about an alien spaceship that becomes stranded over Johannesburg, South Africa. The alien creatures, looking like an insect/crustacean hybrid and referred to by humans in a discriminatory tone as “prawns”, are rounded up by the military and moved to a refugee camp outside the city. Clearly the segregation and treatment of the aliens is an apartheid metaphor, brilliantly conceived.
Unfortunately, director Neill Blomkamp’s visual style comes off sounding a lot like his own name. The entire film is made up of jerky, bouncey hand-held camera work in a mock-documentary style. After a strong opening in which documentary-style news footage quickly brings us up to speed with regard to backstory, I thought the movie would then settle into a more traditional narrative. It does not. Instead, the relentless quick-cut-editing made me feel like I spent two hours staring directly into a strobe light. It’s as if they found a way to attach a camera to a ping-pong ball.
“District 9” also falls into the same trap that has infected every “mockumentary” style movie from “This Is Spinal Tap” to “Borat”. There are scenes in which a real documentary’s film crew would never be. In other words, there are randomly staged scenes which are jarringly obvious, taking us out of the mockumentary aspect of the film for a few moments. For example, how does the documentary’s film crew end up alone in the spaceship with an alien who takes no notice of their presence?
It’s frustrating to report that “District 9” is a missed opportunity at greatness because of the unfortunate choice of filming it as a mockumentary. But if you can handle motion sickness well, there is a lot of greatness to be found here.
DVD Double-Feature: In “District 9” a man becomes infected by alien “fluid” and begins to transform into a prawn creature. In David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of “The Fly”, Jeff Goldblum undergoes a genetic transformation into an insect. Both movies include teeth falling out and fingernails coming loose. But Cronenberg’s film is made in a style that won’t make you feel like the room is constantly spinning.
Michael The Moviegoer
