D.O.V - 03/10/09
Where - Printworks
I saw District 9 yesterday after losing a battle for either this or Pandorum, another film, for another day. So the premise is that an alien ship has been hovering over Johannasburg for about 20 years and the aliens that brought it here have been living in slums on the cities' outskirts for quite sometime, when it comes to relocating them, it all goes badly wrong.
skipping between a documentry style layout and a handhold camera realism fest, this absurdly interesting film asks the question, 'what if the aliens were very much like us'. not as in they are completely non violent and actually just want peace, nor are they all malicious savages. A very human alien, in the mental sense. The documentry style rarely duells on the fact they are from another planet, but merely classes them as outsiders who shouldn't be there, a drain on society. We are shown the publics dismay over the government spending on the 'Prawns' and there sometimes violent tendencies. After this we are introduced to Wikus, the man in charge of the relocation programme, we see him go through the slums finding illegal weapons etc and inflicting formalities upon the aliens. It is about this point the documentry style begins to slide, the plot gains focus, and the fun begins! Wikus is sprayed by an unidentified liquid and, for him it all goes badly wrong. I do not want spoil anymore of the film as this film is a fantastic genre busting film, its other rave reviews show this is a great film that is accesible at numorous levels, as a sci-fi action alien gore fest or a very subtle comment on the treatment of people living in slums in todays society. A definite watch
Also notice the the ship is kept in the background throughout the film, the graphics on it are hauntingly real.
If you can't wait to see the film, check out this short film that the film is based on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlgtbEdqVsk
