Fantastic movie

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2009)

I believe the greatest damage to this film was made by the people who promoted it, the trailers showing aliens and explosions and all that crap. The movie is actually about something else entirely and the "movie" violent moments are few at the end. There is real violence in the everyday actions and behaviour of the people involved, though, the status quo that lets you be a smiling bureaucrat doing his job killing children and dispossessing helpless people.
What I think is worth mentioning is that Peter Jackson did not direct this movie, he was only the producer. The director and writer of the movie is Neill Blomkamp, who I was surprised to see, directs and writes for the first time. I look forward to see any of his movies, provided there are courageous people like Jackson to back him up financially.
Back to the movie, another review talked about kindred spirits. I disagree. When people get together out of necessity, that is not kinship, but rather pure selfishness. And if at the end there were clear moments of sacrifice and valor, it is a mistake to forget the smiling baby burner from the beginning of the movie.
The script wasn't perfect, but everything else bloody was. The music was nice, the actors played very well, the camera work was great (in fact, it is the only movie I've seen after Battlestar Galactica that uses cam motion in a useful, not irritating way) and the story was just wonderful. I changed my mind just now and marked it with a 10, rather than a 9. The movie deserves it.
Bottom line: an unlikely combination of Enemy Mine and The Constant Gardener (or at least this is like what it felt to me) that can't possibly not be liked. I highly recommend it.