some thoughts on what else District 9 has to say.

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2009)

This is a story worth both telling and hearing. It is no comic book quest for a magic trinket but a tale of a flawed mans growth under fire. Onto this story, i believe the director writer has woven very subtly but intentionally a large well crafted system of historical and religiously allegorical elements. I am however that this film maker has painted a gospel like image on a blank jigsaw puzzle, and sewn the pieces randomly but truly and effectively and elegantly into the film from beginning to end. When I first saw District 9 I wondered about 4 significant elements. What does the ship mean? It is after all the 500 lb gorilla in the room and if this film has echo of subtext it has meaning certainly. The transformation of the lead character is a fundamental element in the film, of primary importance. The VERY strange dual nature of the black fluid is deliciously puzzling as a symbolic element and must (if I am correct about the allegorical nature of District 9) have meaning. and I was struck immediately by the central character's enduring love. Now, I feel I am just scratching the surface of this very literary work, but here are a couple of ideas which lead me strongly to feel that there is plenty to muse over under the surface of the admittedly wonderful surface. (Heh) What the heck is this fluid allegorically. Half the answer hit me like a brick falling. The contact with this fluid began the transformation of Wikus van der Merve. His transformation was an essentially positive one from a moral and ethical point of view. It was a BAPTISM! Symbolically speaking. Im still mulling over the fluid as the motile power of the Ship. The Nigerians are in my view a rather uncomplimentary reflection of the Roman Catholic Church. Eating the flesh of the aliens (here perceived symbolically as divine) echoes the mass. The acquisition of weapons which are useless to them seem much like the accumulation of holy objects so widespread in Catholicism. The intense exploitation of the aliens (now perceived symbolically as the populace) seems to be a commentary on Catholic abuse of the laity for its own purposes. I believe the return of the ship may be viewed as the resurrection, either as the ship itself returning in three years or the return to humanity of Wikus which Christopher promised he would effect. Wikus himself takes on a Christlike character by becoming one of the aliens, just as God became one of the humans. Clearly this is all loosely assembled but the parts are all here unquestionably and this inner playground of symbolic life gives the film a wonderful suggestion of deep moral direction viewed as it must have been as a subject worth the andornment of so many spiritual themes. I've only touched on a few ideas here but I have no sense that I am grasping for meaning where there is none. This movie is well made at every level and I am not ashamed to admit that the maker is more subtle, skilled, clever and intelligent than i am in chasing out his little bits of added material. This movie is worth the trouble and I hope to be able sometime soon to describe it very coherently in this way, because I believe District 9 deserves a thoughtful, complete appreciation of its inner and outer life. -- OK, so I have had a few insights into District 9 but obviously there were a few things I've overlooked. What the does the ship mean and then...the fluid... baptism, clever, yes, but what is the black fluid as fuel for the ship mean? I believe this director wants EVERYTHING to be meaningful. He has such a rich creativity that he has it all under total managmement. I believe I've figured it out. This film maker is not only making a religious allegory, he is commenting on our civilisation.
What is the ship? It is US! Huge, technologically advanced, capable of amazing things but.....what if this magnificent engine of ours, this modern society runs out of............................OIL! That black stuff symbolises just what it looks like. OIL. Imagine us in the future, our giant infrastructure and big machines. All rendered inert because we are out of oil. weve destroyed ourselves. This movie is a sobering comment on the future of mankind if we allow ourselves to come to the point where our entire modern miracle comes to a grinding halt. Those million starving aliens in the immobiised ship? Thats US! This movie maker has created a sobering look at so many parts of human life. our misbehaviors, our capacity for redemption, our headlong flight into self destruction. and all played out on a backdrop of the socioligical madness actually existing in South Africa.