Humanity?

Rating: Null/10 (4 September 2009)

What do we mean when we refer to our humanity as a virtue? When criminals, races, societies or anyone remotely different from the cultural norm are deemed "inhumane" in their thoughts, actions or behaviours, we see them as monsters and entities quite separate from us—they are them, and we are us, and to the grand majority of those pointing fingers and segregating the minority this is human. In the world of District 9 then, which occupies a reality where extra-terrestrial beings (colloquially known as "prawns" because of their resemblance) have been habiting the Earth for close to 20 years in slums devised to keep them alive—if only barely and out of the way of the general human populace—this black and white cross-sectioning of what is human and what is alien becomes a literal source of conflict.
Like all great science-fiction, the heart of this story is not the ostensible plot lines involving devices like alien weaponry, government cover-ups or the aliens themselves rendered in masterful CG, but rather that allegorical subtext that drives the whole thing home. Sure enough, the aforementioned aspects are just as cohesive and compelling as that very substance that lies underneath and certainly shouldn't be ignored—but after countless "science-fiction" movies of the past decade merely concerned with cool effects and other-worldly exploit for the sake of it, it's the intelligence that subsides within the channels of District 9's subversive tale that defines it as its own work and brings it intro largely unexplored territory.
So what does it mean to be human? Many would claim that it's to have compassion, to be consciously driven by thought and free-will rather than impulses or reptilian habits of our less evolved ancestors. No matter how you look at it through the lens of District 9 however, there's a notable lack of such qualities in much of the movie's scenes involving us. Instead, there's a predominant sense of the opposite; of the barbaric, unfeeling, somewhat logical and cold side of our overwhelming naivety and obnoxious pride as a species; fearing becoming one of them, but at the same time wanting the greater parts of those we alienate (some going to more drastic means than others), humanity finds itself defending an empty shell of a concept.
This in turn, brings us to the protagonist of District 9's story, who comes in the form of Wikus Merwe, a representative and paper-pusher of an agency that deals with all alien affairs. Wikus is neither a good-guy or a bad-guy, he's just a guy. In the initial stages of the feature, the man is painted to a bit of a meek bureaucrat who takes no pleasure in killing the "prawns" akin to the battalion of hot-headed soldiers that looks after him on away missions, but certainly isn't one to question the morality of his job either which involves keeping the aliens under control through any means possible. As the movie progresses however and Wikus becomes more and more entwined within the fabric of the alien plight, his character takes on a startling transformation that is powerfully done, but not overly so. In this vein, District 9 rather rapidly tilts towards the action-survival side of things, and it's so expertly done that you really question when a movie made you feel this engaged and enthralled at the same time.
Much of the success of this character however has very little to do with all the social commentary, subtexts, plot-developments and special effects but rather through the tremendous performance by Sharlto Copley. Let it be known that this isn't a performance likely to be considered for an Oscar Nomination in that it doesn't demand intricacies and subtleties so lauded by the Academy, but instead asks for something completely human and so damn convincing that you feel this man's pain and the horror that he goes through; you believe in the entire world of District 9 because in more ways than one, he is essentially the sole heart of the movie that beats with any sort of resemblance to what we term humanity.
So what about the action? Well thankfully, I make claim without qualm that not only is the movie one of the smartest sci-fi movies to come out in recent years, but I can also testify that it's certainly amongst the biggest, loudest and most downright good-looking too. The action, which is saved mostly for the final act is riveting—the effects, never dominating the screen or drawing attention to themselves in an adverse fashion, work in ways that only the best of movies that employ them do so. There's explosions, futuristic weaponry, giant mechanoids, but most pleasing of all is that the aliens themselves look absolutely convincing and utterly fantastic in their animation and rendering details. Make no mistake; this one's smart and pretty.
So just what does this awkward mix of brains and brawn mean exactly? Well, it means you have one very compelling movie worthy of some serious praise and recognition. You see, only very rarely does this clashing of art, idea and cinematic excitement come together so eloquently and natural that you're simultaneously engaged in this fantastical world so far beyond your own imagination but at the same time brought crashing home to your own through use of allegory. This mixture gives District 9 its central motif of sorts in that with the prerequisite composition of humanity itself comes the good, the bad, and you guessed it, the ugly. Embodying this theme not just in subtext, but through the use of survival-action which brings out such shades of human nature explicitly, District 9 is undoubtedly a science-fiction masterpiece sure to be revered long after it closes on box offices and enters the pages of cinematic history. It's got adrenaline, but it's got heart and head too—the foundations of our humanity, and therefore the very foundations of film itself.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)