brilliant, charming and one big surprise in 2009

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2011)

What a brilliant way to make a science fiction film like this! There are so many interesting parts for me to discuss, and I will try not to miss anything. To be honest, I am impressed by both the content and the form, which is rare in such an alien film, but this is no doubt a surprise to me in a good way.
Although this is a pure science fiction, the form appears to be a documentary film. All the events are recorded on camera, and so are the interviews of people participated in the subject or not. On the other hand, the director leaves no arguments in debating whether the story is true or otherwise, and that is one good way to make it almost real. However, I don't think this documentary form is just meant to mislead the audiences, I suppose, moreover, the narrative method is ironic contrast of people who only care about themselves and believe in things they want to believe. As we can see, the nature of human beings is nothing superior to the aliens, yet we regard ourselves as victims while some of us keep hunting them down. No wonder there are so many science fiction films describe that mankind will eventually be destroyed by ourselves if we still being so greedy and selfish.
Wikus was the leader of the moving project in the beginning, but he soon got infected and arrested by their own people for experimental test. After escaping from the experimental center, he had no choice but to hide in his alien friend's house he disrespected for the most of the time. Then, the turning point is when Wikus was convinced that he could be cured if he helped his friend to get on that floating boat, and there is somehow a way for everything to return to normal. As a matter of fact, this was not so shocking how the story evolved, for that we already knew the ambition of the people who wanted to wipe out all the aliens and the determination to fulfill their ambition. At the end, we ought to be impressed by the heroic behavior Wikus did to help his friend get on the flying saucer and watched it's launching.
I kind of sense that the story is not simply describe the war between mankind and the aliens, moreover, this is a metaphor which suggests human beings always have trouble tolerating those who don't resemble us, and that is not just the case in the history.