Hidden Metaphor?

Rating: 7/10 (22 November 2010)

This is one of those films that make you reach for the door of cinema or the remote control of your DVD to turn it off in the first ten minutes, but hold off.
The first fifteen minutes of the film is slow and sets out the basic plot for the film even though you don't actually see the aliens arrive, they are just "there" from the word go. This in hand there are a lot of shots in the style of "Cloverfield" but instead of a group of amatures filming it's a TV reporter and his film crew creating what is basically going to set the scene for what is about to follow. There is some very Paul Verhoevenesque (Robocop) scenes, for instance at parts it feels like a news report on the BBC with Kate Adie somewhere in a war zone which in effect it is. It's basically Aliens lands, alien attacks (accidently) a human, humans respond by blaming aliens then so on. However I sat watching this with someone from SA and he pointed out that townships were like this, no law, gangs and lack of any form of a decent life.
As you get into the film the narrative changes from the aspect of the reporter to a full on film. As the story line unfolds you cannot disguise the fact there are parallels between a South Africa from the time of apartheid with the government forcing "blacks" out of townships. You just can't help not thinking there are some very disturbing political overtones of the story line. In fact the majority of the film is shot in townships that would not look out of place even in this day and age. It's also rare to see a film thats shot in Johannesburg yet alone anywhere in South Africa.