Apartheid with aliens

Rating: 10/10 (22 August 2013)

District 9 is a visionary film about an apartheid-like regime in South Africa, wherein twenty years ago a ship full of insect-like aliens came to a hovering stop over Johannesburg. Humans were eventually able to cut into the ship and found a population of aliens starving and weak, they were transported to Earth and now reside in District 9, a slum of a place that is cutoff from the rest of Johannesburg by barbed wire and armed guards. The film follows Wikus van der Merwe, the head of MNU, the govt. agency that deals with the aliens (derogatorily known as "prawns"). Wikus is charged with going in and telling the aliens that they are being moved to District 10, which, unbeknownst to the aliens, is smaller and even less comfortable than District 9. While doing this, Wikus and his men also seize alien weapons and destroy nests of eggs as the humans have also imposed breeding restrictions. During the excursion Wikus has an event happen to him and it changes his whole mindset and will change the course of his life forever. This film is amazing, while the underlying metaphor is obvious, it is still freshly told and excellently shot, the alien effects are fantastic, using motion capture and CGI, the aliens look real and individual also the makeup that is used is so real looking it could pass for CG. Apart from that, though the story holds it own, telling the story of Wikus' life in documentary-style flashbacks and interviews combined with vivid cinematic shot that show the action both as it happened and what the people of Earth think in the aftermath, creating a very immersing film. The film however is very bloody, very violent and has enormous use of the F-word, not for young children. However, everything seems realistic and called for and is an amazing piece of work. The highest recommendation for this film. A must see.