Harmony has a price

Rating: 8/10 (17 September 2009)

District 9 is Neil Blomkamp's feature film debut as well as his writing debut. With the backing of Peter Jackson, whose films have grossed something in the billions, District 9 has a modest budget but tackles something more complex and unique. Something you don't need hundreds of millions of dollars in CG effects to show. We see a truly modern look at what could happen if aliens came to Earth and tried to live with us.
The aliens live in a slummy refugee camp called District 9 in the South African city of Johannesburg. Their ship hovers overhead motionless since the first encounter back in the 80s. These creatures look like a cross between a cockroach and a crayfish. They are tall, rigid, and very cautious of the humans, often leading to violence.
What is so unique about these creatures is not the way they look but how they act. Some are willing to comply with the humans, often engaging in activities with smugglers for food, weapons, and sometimes sexual intercourse. Both humans and the aliens understand each other's languages for the most part. It's refreshing to see a very foreign race of intelligent life interacting with humans in a non-hostile way, at least for some of the time.
When tensions grow high, MNU comes in, an organization who is trying to relieve the tensions between humans and what they call the "prawns" by evacuating them to a distant camp outside of the city. What ensues will ultimately change the course of history and future relations with the race.
The film starts out with an almost entirely documentary style approach, using interviews as well as footage from in the district. We follow Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), the man put in charge of handing out the evictions. Copley puts on a great performance as a man pushed to the limit and facing the greatest challenge of all: survival.
Where the film differs from most as I stated earlier is the point of view we are given in regards to the aliens. They are hostile and dangerous, but for the most part they are terrified and in some cases defenseless. Are we supposed to support an alien race while our own is being shot up and killed? The way it is presented, yes, but only because of what we are shown in the film.
There is also a heavy theme of race and equality, something that is all too familiar for this country and around the world. People of so called "lesser" races and creeds are often lumped together in these grungy communities/camps, only to suffer greatly. These aliens are going through the exact same thing. It gives the film another touch of realism. This is not something that is so far-fetched for us to do.
One thing I wish the film stuck with was the documentary style. I think it drifts too far from it after the first 20 or 30 minutes, but in order to tell the story I assume we have to. I think it could have been a little more seamless instead of being so abrupt. We literally jump from the cameras used by the characters in the film to the unseen cameras of the films production. It was unexpected.
Had I not known this film was supposed to be amazing I probably would have liked it more out of sheer surprise. Still, I was very impressed with Blomkamp's story, camera work, and overall production. It's also nice to see a film shot in a place other than New York, Los Angeles, London, or something as recognizable. District 9 is a very intense, climactic, and unique viewing experience.