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Friday, August 14, 2009
‘District 9’ a blast of imagination and inspiration
As the relentlessly enjoyable District 9 held me in thrall, I thought, “Wow - this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”
On reflection, I feel that’s not quite right. I did see a lot of other movies in District 9. It’s a little bit like Aliens, and I can see some of the TV miniseries V in it. It’s also reminiscent of Cloverfield and Alien Nation, plus David Cronenberg’s The Fly.
Whether District 9 was actually influenced by these movies or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that in mixing so many styles, District 9 serves up a richly satisfying sci-fi brew.
Filmed as if it were a documentary, District 9 is set in the unlikeliest of places: Johannesburg, South Africa. About 20 years ago, a massive spaceship hovered over the city, parking itself there. When authorities cut into the giant spacecraft, they find that the alien leaders have died.
The many remaining aliens, called “prawns” because of their crustacean-like appearance, are interred in a slum known as District 9, where they are hated and feared. (The allusion to apartheid is unmistakable, although the movie never becomes a preachy tract.). Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a government agent in charge of resettling the aliens, becomes … no, it’s really best if I stop there.
There’s one other influence I haven’t mentioned, but this one is certainly deliberate and pervasive: producer Peter Jackson. He did not direct this film - his protege Neill Blomkamp did - but District 9 reminded me of Jackson’s earlier work, like Dead Alive and Heavenly Creatures. All these movies had low budgets applied with high imagination, with their creators skillfully stretching their limited resources.
District 9 almost has a home-movie feel at times, but Blomkamp, who also co-wrote the screenplay, directs with such vim and vigor, he swept me along, totally absorbing me in the story. He’s an excellent action director who masterfully builds and dissipates tension, but his characters and the story never get lost amid all the technology. Just as Paul Greengrass did a few years ago with Bloody Sunday before he moved on to the Bourne franchise, Blomkamp establishes himself as a talent to watch.
So, too, does actor Sharlto Copley. It’s difficult to describe his work without revealing too much detail, but it’s fair to say that Copley undergoes an impressive transformation, changing from a nebbish pencil pusher to an unlikely action hero. I’ll be very curious to see where Blomkamp and Copley proceed from this auspicious start.
District 9 came about after Jackson and Blomkamp were going to make a movie based on the video game Halo before nervous suits pulled the plug, prompting Blomkamp to expand his short Alive in Joburg, with Jackson’s blessing. Never have I been happier a movie didn’t get made. When we get something as inventive and exciting as District 9 instead, I say the cards fell the right way.
GRADE: A
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