Curious Success

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2010)

I didn't know what to expect before watching District 9, and i'm not sure quite what i think of it having seen it. Ostensibly a sci film set in South Africa where travelling aliens have been settled the story, told in past tense, follows the strange events of MNU alien evictor Wikus Van De Merwe. Ultimately he's wanted by the aliens, humans, and the Nigerian gangsters who operate out of District 9 - think Aliens crossed with The Fugitive. Blomkamp's real success here is taking a fairly standard human story along the lines of wrongful conviction and giving it a unique alien twist. In the opening chapter of the film i expected a sci fi with social commentary but in the end this work of art really is about the person at the heart of the plot and his tragic fall from grace. The direction is superb throughout - from CCTV to hand-held to newsreel to interviews with witnesses it really is a masterclass in technique. To the point even that the heart-string tugging ending doesn't seem trite, it's a little clichéd perhaps but those clichés are really just standard filmic techniques being deployed to maximum desired effect. The effects too are definitely worthy of glowing praise - to come up with the creature effects and designs are one thing, but to so seamlessly interweave them with live action is incredible: it really does feel at times like a genuine documentary. All things considered District 9 is an overwhelming success that should be sen to be believed, there are unanswered questions from the outset but maybe here the problem is that i'm asking unimportant questions rather than the film not fulfilling its full potential. A film i'll watch again and again, worth a DVD purchase.