*WARNING: If you haven't seen the film, beware of spoilers.*
There are two large and incredibly ominous signs that the world as we know it is coming to an end. One is that the United States would be governed by a mentally challenged monkey who actually takes it as fact that the Earth was created in seven days. As we all know, that part of the prophecy has already been fulfilled. The other is that there would be a summer blockbuster that, in addition to entertaining us, would make us think a little. A summer blockbuster that would promise plenty of shit blowing up and neat visual effects, but at the same time would NOT require us to leave our brains at the concessions stand. A summer blockbuster that would force us to question who we are as a species and what makes us truly human. In other words, a summer blockbuster with...PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS. (insert creepy musical cue here).
After seeing this movie...I'd say it's about time to head for the nearest bomb shelter.
Neill Blomkamp's feature debut is surprising in many ways. Its themes are strikingly sophisticated and...dare I say...thought-provoking, its plot is one of the most original in its genre, and its technical approach is unlike anything that has ever been seen, with the exception of The Blair Witch Project. I guess Cloverfield would also deserve a mention here, but we're not counting vomit-inducers, are we?
The film's premise is explained in the beginning, set twenty years before the events of the main plot itself, when an extraterrestrial spacecraft comes to a halt over Johannesburg, South Africa. It hovers above the city for months, after which the humans get fed up and just cut into it to discover a group of sick and starving aliens, who were apparently very low-class servants or "serfs" on their home planet.
Over time, the government is able to set up a makeshift "town" for the aliens in Joburg's District 9, where they are kept separate from the city's human population. As the living conditions rapidly deteriorate in the vast slum that is District 9, control of the aliens (or "prawns" as they are referred to by the humans) is given over to an company known as Multi-National United, or MNU for short. The people at MNU are supposedly concerned about the aliens' welfare and the security of the humans, but they are really only interested in learning how to operate the aliens' unique weaponry.
Wait a minute, let me see if I've got this straight...we have an organization that appears to be acting in the interest of the general population, but is actually using corrupt methods to fulfill their ulterior, selfish goals of profit and domination over a bunch of different territories?
You know, there was another administration like that once, run by a certain guy, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Maybe this will ring a bell...
SUBTLE, NEILL. REAL SUBTLE.
Well, you get the picture. The guys over at MNU are not to be misunderestimated. If you're not with them, you're against them. They're the ones who make sure our children is learning...okay, I'll stop now.
Anyway, twenty years into all this, we meet MNU field operative Wikus van der Merwe, who, along with some security forces in MNU, has been assigned the task of uprooting and relocating the aliens over to District 10, an area that is more like a concentration camp than anything else (Holocaustian overtones?). While he is inspecting the home of one of the "prawns", he accidentally sprays himself in the face with an alien chemical, causing him to experience severely violent bodily reactions and eventually causes his arm to morph into that of an alien's, due to the fact that the spray has now written alien DNA into his biological coding, allowing him coveted access to the aliens' weapons.
As you may have guessed by now, our hero isn't exactly the most brightly lit candle on the menorah.
WELL, THIS SUCKS...FEELS LIKE JUST YESTERDAY WHEN I SPRAYED MYSELF IN THE FACE WITH THAT PRAWN FUEL...YOU KNOW, I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE JUST CONFISCATED IT RIGHT AWAY AND LET SOMEONE ELSE AT MNU INSPECT IT LATER RATHER THAN FIDDLING AROUND WITH SUCH A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS DEVICE...OH, WELL!
So Wikus gets taken into custody by the good people of MNU, who want to use his acquired talents for destructive purposes at the cost of his life. He manages to escape, however, and finds himself ostracized from the community and the ones he loves due to a nasty rumor spread about him having sexual intercourse with an alien.
I swear to God and sunny Jesus, I did not make that last part up.
So, now that Wikus is alone and friendless, the only place left for him to take refuge is in District 9. He meets and enlists the help of an alien given the name Christopher Johnson, an alien he had tried to evict earlier, leading to an uneasy but interesting partnership.
Quite a mouthful just to explain the plotline, eh? Now, on to the review itself...
Like I said, this movie's premise is quite unusual and original, given what we've come to expect from this genre. The aliens in this movie are not here to destroy us or to take over our planet or to offer us any extraordinary new technology that will lead us into a new age of peace and prosperity. They are merely refugees with no other place to go, and in many ways, they are no better than us humans.
Fresh, new and intelligent though this idea may be, the story still has its flaws. There were only two of them this time around, but they stood out among the better aspects of the film:
1) Wikus' transition in character (or lack thereof) was just a little too quick and easy for me to accept. Let's try comparing these two selected moments from the film, before and after Wikus sprays himself:
BEFORE:
YEAH, HI, WE'RE FROM MNU? WE ARE HEREBY REQUIRED TO INSPECT YOUR HOME AND TORCH YOUR UNBORN KIDS ALIVE--ER, I MEAN CONFISCATE ANY HIDDEN WEAPONS. OH, AND WE'RE ALSO GOING TO UPROOT YOU FROM YOUR ALREADY MISERABLE SHACK AND DUMP YOU IN A PLACE WITH EVEN WORSE LIVING CONDITIONS. HAVE A NICE DAY!
AFTER:
NO...NO! PLEASE! DON'T MAKE ME KILL THAT UNARMED PRAWN! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! THE MOVIE NEEDS ME TO BE A SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER NOW! NOOOOOOOOOO!
I guess one of the side effects of ingesting the fuel involves magically gaining a conception of morality.
2) Let me comment a little bit on the allegory in this film. The blatantly obvious similarities between the treatment of "non-humans" in District 9 and the treatment of "non-whites" during the era of apartheid in South Africa seem to be the highest points of discussion for viewers. This is mainly due to the unusual setting of this type of film, and by unusual I mean the fact that it isn't set in Manhattan or Washington D.C.
And the movie does hammer this down our throats quite a bit, even after we've made the very simple connection:
EQUALS
There you go. Allegory explained.
Though, to be fair, the history of South Africa has been shadowed by apartheid and racial discrimination to the point where you ABSOLUTELY cannot watch this film without making the connection.
The thematic focus of this movie, however, is NOT apartheid or racism, but the definition of humanity. That's right. You remember those dreaded PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS I mentioned earlier? Well, this movie is chock-full of those. Just bear with me, folks, it'll only be for a few paragraphs.
The character of Wikus is human by default. We know that much. He walks, talks and interacts with others in a distinctly human fashion. But his actions and his conduct towards others do not suggest the possession of any higher human functions, such as the ability to question what he is forced to do or his environment around him. He acts only for himself, and to further his own ambitions.
Okay, maybe I'm being too hard on the guy. After all, he does have his girlfriend and...that's about it.
He does not display any respect for any form of life, as seen in his callous enjoyment at seeing the alien eggs "popping" in the fire he burned them with. Outwardly, he is human. Inwardly, however, he is nothing more than a vacuous drone built to follow orders from his superiors, no matter how abhorrent and inhumane they are.
Now, on the other side of the coin, we have Christopher Johnson, our non-human hero. He is alien by default (one thing he and I have in common), yet he is clearly more human than most of the so-called homo sapiens characters in this movie. He is the only character who does not act purely out of his own selfish interests or motivations. He is concerned for the good of his people above all, and has every respect for all forms of life, aside from the few maimed and killed bodies he and Wikus leave behind at MNU. He is loyal, and will do anything to protect the ones he loves, namely his young son.
HOWEVER...
The consequences of Wikus spraying himself with the alien chemicals are that he loses his human appearance. This means that he is now in an even lower position than shit stuck to the underside of his shoe: he is now "one of them". He is now everything his fellow humans see as inhuman: ugly and physically deformed. At first, he still acts selfishly, as he simply uses Christopher to get the alien fuel back in order to reverse the transformation. But, eventually, as he clues in on the fact that maybe we shouldn't brutalize and destroy other forms of life for our own amusement, he seems to gain a glimmer of real humanity even as he slowly begins to mutate into a non-human.
The final decision Wikus makes near the end is a pretty clear indication that he has now made a full transformation, not from human to alien, but from a murderous drone to one who is fully conscious of and respects all life. He has lost most of his human appearance, but has gained human values such as compassion and the capacity for selflessness. By the end, what is he? Nothing more than a disgusting prawn. But he is a disgusting prawn with a decidedly human attribute: an irrational, emotional and fully functioning heart.
*End of philosophical rambling*
And speaking of prawns, I'd just like to take a moment (almost done here, folks) to tip my turban to the visual effects teams that were responsible for the appearance of these aliens. What's amazing is that even with the shaky-cam documentary-style approach they employed, these creatures actually manage to create the illusion of having physical bearing in space and matter, complete with big, wide, thoughtful eyes to evoke our sympathy right off the bat. How did they manage to create these almost photo-realistic creatures? Well, having access to Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop certainly helps:
YO, WOULD YOU DO ME A FAVOR? TELL THAT PIXELATED LUMP OF SHIT GOLLUM HE CAN SUCK MY ENCRUSTED BALLSACK. I'M THE MOST REALISTIC-LOOKIN' CGI CREATURE IN TOWN NOW, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT, BITCHES!
But, with all that being said, I still haven't answered the fundamental question of this review: is it a good movie or not? The ingredients are there: original, thought-provoking writing with all its PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS, and plenty of great visual effects and shit blowing up. Okay, maybe those aren't the ingredients of a good movie per se. But as a summer blockbuster, it definitely goes above and beyond the call of duty, and if you're looking for a solid, action-packed science-fiction movie, you should give it a whirl.
And as for me personally?
Well, I enjoyed it, and due to the undercurrent of racial intolerance, it had some special resonance for me. I know I'd like to see what would happen if one of those aliens tried to get a cab.
Thanks for reading, and have a nice day.
--Vishesh
