Greek tragedy meets sci-fi

Rating: 9/10 (17 December 2010)

Neill Bloomkamp, at the tender age of 30, which is, in directorial terms, infancy, has come up with a masterpiece. A sci-fi movie and a tragedy so moving it could have been crafted by Shakespeare blend together seamlessly to give us one of the most under-rated, and brilliant movies of the decade.
It's initial (and final) segment is made like a documentary, which is a clever ploy to illustrate the present situation in the alternate reality and how it transpired, and what happened after the events of the movie. In a nutshell, an alien ship landed, came to the earth, hovering motionless above Johannesburg. A team then enters the ship to find a group of sick and malnourished aliens, who then are given shelter on earth. After the initial excitement died down, the government realizes there's a problem. The aliens are living in a slum-like crime-infested area called district 9, hardly someplace where we would want the first visitors from space to be staying. So Multi-national United, a private- military company is given the task of relocating them to a new,better location with Wikus van de Merwe heading it.
That's the base. The story takes off from here. Okay, it's not terribly original but what makes it brilliant is the completely different context it was put in, and the different direction it takes from there. It's a powerful story not only of betrayal, greed and violence, but also of morality and love, which can move you to tears. Your heart bleeds for the prawns (as the aliens are derogatorily called) when it's shown what a miserable existence they now lead. You weep for the alien's son when you see hopelessness and fright on his face as the soldiers come to take him. And most of all, you cry for Wan der Merwe and his fate.
The cast, lacking a major celebrity, do an excellent job. Wikus van de Merwe was recently voted in the top 100 fictional characters by Entertainment Weekly despite not terribly handsome, or strong, or cool, or funny. He's always slightly confused and very desperate, all of which Sharlto Copley (now embarking on a promising career that has already seen him play Murdoch in the A-team) portrays brilliantly. The two main prawns, Christopher and his son are splendid and their sad eyes and slouching shoulders touch your heart.
The cinematography is different from mainstream, and is brilliant. There is no air of conspiracy or the 'hero-will-fix' everything in this movie, instead there is an air of hopelessness and despair all over the movie.
While it is as moving, it is not very similar to the Greek tragedies. There are no invincible warriors, nor noble kings, nor any particularly memorable dialogues or quotes. Yet the characters are no less endearing. They are not above reproach themselves, initially putting self-interest first. The ending then vindicates them. You get the feeling this is exactly how a tragedy would pan out in the real world(if well, you overlook the tiny fact that there is no alien ship over Johannesburg, and not likely to be in the near future. But if this does happen, what follows might closely resemble the movie). The movie literally has no style, but is oozing with substance. Make no mistake about it, this movie is a piece of art whose true value not many will appreciate as they will ask for the action sequences, the heros, the jokes and the happy endings. However for me, this represents the zenith of cinema