September 21, 2009

[Reviews] District 9


District 9

Directed by Neil Blokamp

Written By Neil Blokamp and Terri Tatchell

Starring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Nathalie Bolt, Sylvaine Strike, William Allen Young, Louis Minaar, and Vanessa Haywood


You can rationalize all you want, but you will get absolutely nowhere once the “That’s racist” switch has been flicked. Hence, the plight of District 9, Neil Blokamp’s resourceful sci-fi/action film by way of South Africa.

The premise of Disctrict 9, in which aliens land unannounced in Johannesburg and are met with hostility and segregation, is as interesting as the debate it has ignited amongst it’s cranky detractors. One scene in question --- in which arms-smuggling, drug-dealing, Nigerians are compounding further stereotypes by cannibalizing alien parts and performing ritualistic voodoo on the devourers --- has justifiably garnered plenty of criticism.

Having seen the movie in theatres, two things (to me) are clear:

  1. Director Neil Blokamp and producer Peter Jackson had the best of intentions and made a huge oversight and…
  2. …the people who are dubbing the film “racist” are being a bit over-sensitive on the subject.

District 9, with it’s oft-mentioned $30 million budget, has a subtext that is far-reaching (New Orleans, Africans, Iraqis, Mexicans…oh, we could do this all day), which in turn means the critical-eye on the film will gaze even further. This makes the movie’s depictions even worse since it is preaching tolerance.

In a summer that has already made way for marijuana-eyed, gold teeth, ebonics-slinging, illiterate, transforming robots, it’s a shame that District 9 couldn’t be the Obama-approved answer to Transformer 2’s disregard.

3 comments:

  1. I disagree that the negative depiction of the Nigerians was an oversight, or even that the director and producer didn't realize it would appear racist. In fact, I think that was exactly the point. It was incredibly important for the film to depict an undesirable human community as well as the aliens for reasons of honesty. In other words, we do still treat each other in parts of the world like the aliens are treated in the movie. And in a continent where a country has witchdoctors that hunt albinos for medicine ingredients, it cannot be said that the depiction of cannibalistic ritualized voodoo is going too far. I've described to many that "District 9" is how you would imagine BBC News would make a sci-fi movie. Startling, upsetting and disturbingly familiar in it's logic and emotions. Some would say it's an obvious and useless statement for a movie to ask if humanity deserves existing, but I think "District 9" says something more. I think it dares us to acknowledge the darkness within while at the same time actively pursuing the expression of love.
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  2. There is another piece to this...Apparently alot of the interviews featured in the film we're of South Africans talking about Nigerians and other groups populating their cities.
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  3. Very good point. I think one of my favorite things about the film is that despite its sense of immediacy and fast-paced action there are many layers to work through if you invest the time to do so. Can't wait to check this out on Blu-Ray!
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