This movie does nothing but aggrandize the main character

Rating: 8/10 (17 October 2010)

I got a little bit motion sick during the movie. I was pretty disappointed it didn't seem to be about anything. It was a standard, shoot-em up buddy movie. One partner just happens to be an alien. It wasn't till the very end, when you wonder if aliens from the home world are coming back, that it hints at being a Sci Fi movie, or a movie that has implications for all of us or one examining changes in society. Well there was the main character, Wikus, burning all the alien eggs. . .
There is a theme to District 9, tho. It is about one thing, and one thing only. Building up and exalting the main character, Wikus. It 'pimps' him. I even wonder if that was the insider name for the movie during production. Critic Roger Ebert wrote that the Wikus character, "isn't the brightest bulb on the tree". He's a follower. He's an every-man, perhaps. He's not concerned with petty or personal politics. It might even be physical, he's a thin man. The counter-argument (and it's an easy one to make) might be that he grows or changes, during the movie. The movie goes pretty fast. I think it merely reveals his character. Even when he finally goes against type, is finally pushed too far, and he blindly lashes out at his alien partner, I think even this sells him. Even he can be pushed too far.
It was absolutely an incredibly well-made movie, it accomplishes it's task very well. Sadly, it has to descend into a shoot-em up to accomplish this goal? Wikus must become a master of arms - really cool ones - to become acceptable? Yes, a very sad commentary on our times. Does he even have to become an alien, in the end, before he is really 'real'? It's possible that instead this movie was targeted toward folks like the main character in the movie (and folks like me). The movie isn't about selling Wikus, it's about selling a might-is-right, tattoo crazed world to folks like Wikus. Well, it never hurts to admire strength. It's working out so well for us.
I'm going to say I agree with those who note the racism examined in District 9. I don't really care. . . not at all. I'm a white racist, I guess. Or perhaps I just think there are already enough folks concerned about 'racism' as it is. But I do 'agree' with the idea - if you accept the notion that the alien prawns are stand-ins for another race. The movie presents them as pretty base and even animal-like, both on the ship and then in the camps. Roger Ebert called them and their behavior 'disgusting', except for the hero's eventual partner and his son. Perhaps I missed something in the movie, the process where the prawns or refugees are 'dehumanized' against their better wishes. Also, when I say the movie isn't about anything, perhaps I was looking at the wrong thing. Maybe it was really about the alien and his mission to escape Earth and the camps. Almost forgot the scene where African girls prostitute themselves to aliens, and does it help that the Black Africans in the movie are portrayed as cannibals and even worse? Should I repeat that again. . ? Perhaps the movie makers feel racism can only be counteracted by further racism? Well of course they do. We all know liberals are the ones who make movies. This isn't discrimination against conservatives, it's just a coincidence. Although one it would seem in need of celebration.
One of the paradoxes of the movie, is that a lot of reviewers comment about how Wikus is evil or kind of shady. He's Still a bad guy! The brainwashing can't be overridden. Perhaps it simply can't be. This movie tries really hard. At the risk of an even larger number of negative votes, for the older readers, I'm going to quote someone else who is a lot more articulate than I am,
"Apparently many uber Liberals do well on the IQ tests which means they can assimilate and process bad information faster than the average. But if they encounter conflicting good information can they deprocess the bad and replace it with the good faster than the average? Doesn't seem so. In fact it appears that they cannot deal with conflicting information at all. Is there a test that can attach a useful number to this mental defect"?
This movie doesn't do anything but exalt the main character of the movie (it does it well). The problem is I'm not sure this movie can really convince us that Wikus' district has 9.