Slightly more useful District 9 commentary

Oh yeah, that District 9 thing. I was going to make up for my feeble attempt at reviewing, right? Well anyway, here's what I find most interesting about this film:

1. The documentary-style opening sequence is two things: very well executed (usually when movies take this approach it comes off, at best, as very "fake") and a perfect way to hammer home the political/societal seriousness of the movie to follow. Of course, as previously mentioned this doesn't especially pan out. But in any case, a great zinger opening.


2. The aliens have RIDICULOUS weapons and are superhumanly powerful. Which, regardless of whether the movie is supposed to say something to us Americans or is a strictly an apartheid commentary, makes them silly as slum-dwelling refugees. It just don't jive, you know? Like, we're supposed to believe they're all so downtrodden they trade their body-exploding guns for cat food?


3. There's a lot of F-bombing in District 9. That's not really anything unusual. What is unusual is just how...non-intrusive it is. Unlike the many films which have celebrated the f-word by using it either in a certain context or in an over-the-top manner (e.g. the "F---ing A" catchphrase of The Deer Hunter or - duh - Scarface), the word's prevalence in this film is clearly no more than a reflection of the times. Wikus's frequent use of "f---" whenever he gets into trouble slides by almost unnoticeably because we are so used to hearing it in this context.

"F---" has become so incredibly ubiquitous in everyday conversation that it probably deserves its own post at some point.


4. The action and core story are, when you get down to it, pretty darn conventional. Lots of missed bullets, convenient breaks in the action whenever the protagonists need to talk, a moment rather early on when you KNOW which character is going to do what for whom during the climactic sequence.

But nevertheless, something about the whole production really makes you want to root hard for the success of the protagonists. You just have to refrain from thinking too hard about it.


IN conclusion, District 9 is an interesting and unique movie that works best as a strongly contextualized (i.e. set in Johannesburg) sci-fi/action piece. Unfortunately, certain elements of the film and its story strongly encourage us to seek a greater significance, and by seeking we only uncover flaws that make it impossible to take any of it very seriously.