District 9

[Gimpy]

Brutal. Violent. Lots of shaky camera work that's left me quite sick. I'll do a better review tomorrow folks. :(

Just wanted a caution, don't take the kids please. I know these days kids are used to a lot of video game violence, but this is a bit too realistically gruesome.


Oy

 

[scout]

the new peter jackson (produced) sci-fi film "district 9" opened this weekend. this movie is poised to be a huge summer blockbuster. i saw the movie yesterday afternoon, and i must say, even though i enjoyed the movie very much...

it is also very disturbing on many levels, and without spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, (or is planning to), there are several things i would like to discuss here, with anyone who's interested:

1) the filmmaker's take on "aliens" in the movie is very sympathetic -- (again, if you haven't seen the film, this is a spoiler alert!) -- and the "humans as bad guys" theme i found very creepy, especially when taken in context with all the C's have been saying about the real "alien" agenda.

2) the incredible, matter-of-fact way that the arrival of these extra-terrestrials is portrayed in the film, and also the fact that a foreign government (in this case, south africa) is allowed to keep the aliens isolated for 20 years (!!!) without any apparent objection or intervention of other world governments, (ie: the united states!!).

3) the technology displayed in the movie -- from advanced "alien" weaponry, to the ET's space craft itself.

4) the "aliens" themselves, portrayed here as something of a cross between a "prawn" and an upright lizard.

any thoughts?

 

[Beau]

NOTICE: SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!

the new peter jackson (produced) sci-fi film "district 9" opened this weekend. this movie is poised to be a huge summer blockbuster. i saw the movie yesterday afternoon, and i must say, even though i enjoyed the movie very much...

it is also very disturbing on many levels, and without spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, (or is planning to), there are several things i would like to discuss here, with anyone who's interested:

1) the filmmaker's take on "aliens" in the movie is very sympathetic -- (again, if you haven't seen the film, this is a spoiler alert!) -- and the "humans as bad guys" theme i found very creepy, especially when taken in context with all the C's have been saying about the real "alien" agenda.

Since I also saw it this weekend, and loved it, I'll give you my take on it. As far as #1, I think you are failing to grasp the overall theme of the movie and its allegories to the American empire and its occupation of numerous territories throughout the world. Your broad brush of "humans as bad guys" theme misses the point. The bad guys were the mercenaries and their corporate bedfellow Multi National United, not humans as a whole. I took that as as much social commentary than plot design. The aliens represent all those persecuted by the High Cabal, very much portrayed as useless eaters in the film. It was not difficult to sympathize with them, and it was done extremely well by the director.

2) the incredible, matter-of-fact way that the arrival of these extra-terrestrials is portrayed in the film, and also the fact that a foreign government (in this case, south africa) is allowed to keep the aliens isolated for 20 years (!!!) without any apparent objection or intervention of other world governments, (ie: the united states!!).

Again, that's a more literal understanding of the plot, but if you think about it you can see how such things occur between humans every day! Why should it be so different for the aliens? They are 3D in the movie like us.

3) the technology displayed in the movie -- from advanced "alien" weaponry, to the ET's space craft itself.

That's rather standard fare for a science fiction movie actually. [/quote]

any thoughts?

Well I highly recommend it to anyone interested. I didn't have any issues with it. The presence of aliens in any kind of mass-produced media is always worth noting. People getting acclimated to certain realities and all. But beyond that, I thought it made very interesting parallels to the world at present and the character arc was very high quality. It's a really gripping story shot documentary-style, and the protagonist reportedly improvised most of his lines for the whole film.

 

[Beau]

Just wanted a caution, don't take the kids please. I know these days kids are used to a lot of video game violence, but this is a bit too realistically gruesome.

Yes, it's rated R so you know their is going to be violence. But at least this time it conveyed a message, OSIT. It wasn't just for mindless entertainment.

Lots of shaky camera work that's left me quite sick

Yes, it's shot docu-style, much in the same vein as Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project, and to some extent Bourne trilogy director Paul Greengrass. I didn't experience any vertigo, but someone not used to that kind of film might be bothered by it. But I thought that brought a grittiness to the movie.

 

[foofighter]

Since I also saw it this weekend, and loved it, I'll give you my take on it. As far as #1, I think you are failing to grasp the overall theme of the movie and its allegories to the American empire and its occupation of numerous territories throughout the world. Your broad brush of "humans as bad guys" theme misses the point. The bad guys were the mercenaries and their corporate bedfellow Multi National United, not humans as a whole. I took that as as much social commentary than plot design. The aliens represent all those persecuted by the High Cabal, very much portrayed as useless eaters in the film. It was not difficult to sympathize with them, and it was done extremely well by the director.

Yes, I agree. This is not so much a film about aliens as it is a social commentary on racism and pathological behaviour. It is important to know, and this is a point that Blomkamp (the director) stresses as well, that South Africa has had a large influx of Zimbabwean refugees, and that in spite of the countrys past racism between blacks and whites, there is now similar views from the black community towards the refugees. This lack of understanding, repeating history, is one major part of the point he is trying to make, it seems to me.

Like Pinkerton, I enjoyed it thoroughly, precisely because of this accurate social commentary part of it, and the description of one mans awakening to the sickness of what his own species is doing to another, and him overcoming his own selfish needs in order to help others. That was absolutely great!

It is very gory though, which "meat explosions" happening a lot. Our 13YO daughter went to a birthday party yesterday where the parents had booked 30 seats for it. My immediate reaction watching the movie was that that was probably not the best movie to see for a group of young girls on a birthday party...

 

[Gimpy]

Just wanted a caution, don't take the kids please. I know these days kids are used to a lot of video game violence, but this is a bit too realistically gruesome.

Yes, it's rated R so you know their is going to be violence. But at least this time it conveyed a message, OSIT. It wasn't just for mindless entertainment.

Lots of shaky camera work that's left me quite sick

Yes, it's shot docu-style, much in the same vein as Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project, and to some extent Bourne trilogy director Paul Greengrass. I didn't experience any vertigo, but someone not used to that kind of film might be bothered by it. But I thought that brought a grittiness to the movie.

I didn't know it was going to be done that way, not having seen any previews or trailers so as not to be 'spoiled'. :) I did want to see District 9, so I propped myself up in a hallway and covered my eyes when I had to to finish the movie out. It's worth noting that the sound was jacked up very loud, a lot louder than a lot of other movies I've seen this summer. The Hubby tells me people like that. Ooookay. :P

Hubby also was upset by a set of parents who brought young children to the movie by sneaking them in. He told me that the front ticket desk was actually checking ID before letting folks in to see District 9. How that group was missed, I don't know. This movie is meant for adults, and I don't think small children will 'get it'. I agree with foofighter, that even a group of 13 year olds might not be up for it.



Below be spoilers Below be spoilers







Motion sickness aside, this was a great movie for showing Ponerology in action. The brazen plotting of the corporate monster MNU made it possible to see the current war crimes across the globe right in front of your face: The open air prison of District 9, the starvation of the refugees, the wholesale slaughter of their children for amusement, the use of private security military forces and ignorance of language and culture and total 'dehumanization' of 'collaborators'....it all hit a chord and showed me events and actions I know are happening right now.....and made a powerful impression. I left the theater traumatized, and I think that's more from being surprised by motion sickness. (Thank you Laura and Team for the Breathing Exercises!) :D


If you don't get motion sick, and even if you do, its worth seeing this movie. ;D

 

[theos]

I saw this movie yesterday and I didn't care much for it at all.

Spoiler Alert!

I realize that the movie is a social commentary on aparthied, racism and corporatism but I don't think it was done very well. The writer portrayed the aliens as stupid, garbage eating, cat food addicted, illegal weapons making, murdering, useless creatures. I wonder if that is what he thinks of the people in the slums of S. Africa or refugees in general? The one alien who garnered any sympathy saved himself and his son and left all his fellow aliens behind!
And why demonize the Nigerians on top of it by making them sick cannibals? Could he have made the bad guys some generic group of thugs? Members of all groups exploit others, naming the Nigerians specifically makes me question what the writer was thinking.
The focus on the nefarious activities of the MUN was too brief to really make a statement on the evils of corporations.
The gore and violence was over the top and quite drawn out.
Overall, I don't think the movie did a good job making the point that it was attempting to make. At several points during the movie I wondered exactly what the point was.

 

[Cyre2067]

Saw the film myself over the weekend and I was rather non-plussed. There were some holes in the plot that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Why weren't they integrated? How come their fuel causes genetic mutation of a very specific type? Why didn't the aliens ever use their weapons to defend themselves? How come one alien seems to have intelligence while the rest were rather dumb?

As a social commentary I can appreciate it's demonstration of how the first world treats the third. I mean, you could easily see the Palestinians being represented by the aliens, or any other oppressed people. The corporate hierarchy at MNU was clearly psychopathic as was the lead mercenary, and I thought their callus greed/blood lust came through as very not-human, esp when compared to Viktor and his emotive self.

The overall problem I had with the film were the plot-holes combined with a poor intro and poor conclusion. As a film were kinda just dropped off in the midst of this story and we get to see a chunk of it, but there's no real conclusion at the end. It's as if someone took a novel, ripped out the first and last three chapters of the book and gave you the rest to read expecting you to 'get it'. The only argument I see against that is the character development that the protagonist goes through, and if you accept that the movie is entirely about Victor and his personal character development.

 

[Beau]

I realize that the movie is a social commentary on aparthied, racism and corporatism but I don't think it was done very well. The writer portrayed the aliens as stupid, garbage eating, cat food addicted, illegal weapons making, murdering, useless creatures. I wonder if that is what he thinks of the people in the slums of S. Africa or refugees in general?

If you think about it, that is exactly how the PTB views the general population. I think you are projecting onto the writer the reasons for presenting the aliens as such.

The one alien who garnered any sympathy saved himself and his son and left all his fellow aliens behind!

If you recall, he specifically said he was going to save the rest of his species that was in District 9, but that he first had to get to the mothership and go to his home planet. He even told Wikas that he was going to have to wait 3 years before being able to go back human. This was because the alien had to help his own kind first, which came about after he saw the experiments being done on them in the MNU medical labs. I'm surprised you missed that point.

And why demonize the Nigerians on top of it by making them sick cannibals?

Only the one "gangleader", with his witch doctor advising, ate flesh, and that was alien flesh intended to be able to use the alien weapons which only work in tandem with their DNA.

Could he have made the bad guys some generic group of thugs? Members of all groups exploit others, naming the Nigerians specifically makes me question what the writer was thinking.

The write specifically chose South Africa. He was depicting District Six, a real district that existed in Cape Town which was whites-only while it existed and forced the removal of tens of thousands of Africans in the 70's. The writer himself was born in South Africa and obviously witnessed much of the same acts that are depicted in the film. In this way, the film is semi-autobiographical and thus certain groups had to included and rightly demonized.

 

[Erna]

Yeah, when I saw the name of the movie, I thought it was derived from District 6, and then I Googled it just to confirm.

District 6 and Sophiatown are the most well known in this regard. Here's a slideshow with pics from District 6 before it was destroyed:

http://www.news24.com/Content/AudioSlideshows/SouthAfrica/1204/78adb922f2ab4fc0b233da85047eca3a/21-05-2009%2003-05/The_spirit_of_District_Six

I think the play on Apartheid is clever, can't wait to see it, although I hate that Cloverfield doccie style shaky camera type filming.

 

[Gimpy]

Spoilers below! Spoilers below!

Why weren't they integrated? How come their fuel causes genetic mutation of a very specific type? Why didn't the aliens ever use their weapons to defend themselves? How come one alien seems to have intelligence while the rest were rather dumb?

In the beginning, there were news snippets that showed the aliens being thrown out of integrated communities for the bad actions of a few, and forced into the area that became District 9.

For the second, the black liquid, all I can think of is their fuel was a synthesis of biological elements and their technology ran on it through a specific genetic marker, which was engineered to make more of itself if it touched organic tissue. That's a big sci fi guess. :) It would also be a good security measure in the instance the aliens found themselves in.


As for why they didn't defend themselves...would you go to Wal-mart at 3 am and yank a stock boy off his job, starve him for a few weeks, then shove an M-16 in his hands and expect him to know what to do with it? There is no reason to think that every alien is going to have military training. I'm not even convinced that the 'weapons' that were found on the mother ship and after were really weapons at all. Some of it looked and behaved like drilling or mining equipment. Even the enviro suit looked like a kind of multipurpose gadget. As to why the one alien was smart? I'm sure there were more than just him that managed to pull themselves together. He didn't find the rescue ship by himself. I'm sure he didn't gather the equipment alone either.

(If you were intelligent, and you were watching your people devolve into the madness of starvation, oppression, and endless violence, including being guinea pigs for weapons testing, would you let it be known you were smart? What about the glyph on his house? His clothes? I think it meant he was either a mechanic or a doctor or some kind of scientist/engineer. )


As to why the aliens appeared stupid, have you ever starved? The aliens loved cat food, and cat food is designed to be protein dense. It appeared they were starving all the time....they needed more protein dense food than they could get from just eating meat. As a consequence, they were in a state of persistent starvation. When the protagonist is changing...he's starving all the time too. When you reach that point, that you're so hungry you'll do anything to eat, so much for thinking. This has been done to people of all nationalities for centuries.


I missed a lot of this movie to being motion sick, but I caught all this stuff. You sure we watched the same show? :D

 

[theos]

I think you are projecting onto the writer the reasons for presenting the aliens as such.

That's probably true. I think I am projecting here.

The write specifically chose South Africa. He was depicting District Six, a real district that existed in Cape Town which was whites-only while it existed and forced the removal of tens of thousands of Africans in the 70's. The writer himself was born in South Africa and obviously witnessed much of the same acts that are depicted in the film. In this way, the film is semi-autobiographical and thus certain groups had to included and rightly demonized.

If this is the case, it seems that the writer could have used a real corporation instead of MUN and demonized all who were deserving.

If you recall, he specifically said he was going to save the rest of his species that was in District 9, but that he first had to get to the mothership and go to his home planet. He even told Wikas that he was going to have to wait 3 years before being able to go back human. This was because the alien had to help his own kind first, which came about after he saw the experiments being done on them in the MNU medical labs. I'm surprised you missed that point.

Got the point. I guess that was just another part of the film I didn't care for.

 

[scout]

While I understood and appreciated the social allegory, (it was covered in a Jackson/Blomkamp interview I read last month, before seeing the film), and enjoyed the film very much -- I still left the theater feeling disturbed by the overall "pro-alien" impression it created.

Your broad brush of "humans as bad guys" theme misses the point. The bad guys were the mercenaries and their corporate bedfellow Multi National United, not humans as a whole. I took that as as much social commentary than plot design. The aliens represent all those persecuted by the High Cabal, very much portrayed as useless eaters in the film. It was not difficult to sympathize with them, and it was done extremely well by the director.

I'm not sure I agree with you on this. Of course the mercenaries and their employer, MNU, were bad guys. But where were the groups of ordinary citizens demanding "alien rights," or protesting the deplorable conditions of District 9? It seemed to me the rest of the world was only too happy to ignore the alien situation entirely (where have I heard that before?). And by ignoring and allowing the situation, aren't ALL humans painted as bad guys? In the same way that we are all "guilty" of apartheid, wherever it occurs, when we do nothing to oppose it?

At any rate, I agree with you "it was not difficult to sympathize with them," in fact, that was what I found most unsettling. District 9 will be a huge hit, seen by millions of people around the world, no doubt. Will those people leave theaters with the impression "aliens" are good, and apartheid is bad?

Will people be saying, "I can't wait for the sequel, when the aliens come back to kick our asses?" -- (deservedly so, since we're guilty of slicing and dicing their brothers and sisters on MNU operating tables?)

There is another film coming November 6th, with an "alien-abduction" storyline, called "The Fourth Kind."
This is info on the movie from Stevie Trailers' youtube post:

"In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document...until now.

Structured unlike any film before it, The Fourth Kind is a provocative thriller set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where—mysteriously since the 1960s—a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered.

Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.

Using never-before-seen archival footage that is integrated into the film, The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film."

the trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BENDh1sRPX0

 

[Beau]

While I understood and appreciated the social allegory, (it was covered in a Jackson/Blomkamp interview I read last month, before seeing the film), and enjoyed the film very much -- I still left the theater feeling disturbed by the overall "pro-alien" impression it created.

Actually it's interesting you talk about a "pro-alien impression". Did you notice the remark by chachachick above?

The writer portrayed the aliens as stupid, garbage eating, cat food addicted, illegal weapons making, murdering, useless creatures

I think what disturbs you most is that the movie gets the viewer to sympathize with the alien population. But if you think about the context, you should be sympathetic. I think Blomkamp actually does a nice job of showing us that 20 years on, nobody would really care about aliens anymore either (except for weapons bio-tech, obviously!). The human reaction to this sort of long-term event is drawn fairly well in this film. They sat around for 3 months poking at the mothership instead of really making an effort to get in? Of course we would do that. After 20 years we have learned to communicate, but not bothered to do much else? Of course we would do that. I think it's really not so imaginary after all.

But where were the groups of ordinary citizens demanding "alien rights," or protesting the deplorable conditions of District 9? It seemed to me the rest of the world was only too happy to ignore the alien situation entirely (where have I heard that before?). And by ignoring and allowing the situation, aren't ALL humans painted as bad guys? In the same way that we are all "guilty" of apartheid, wherever it occurs, when we do nothing to oppose it?

20 years go by. You don't know if the situation has been ignored the whole time. The history is not explained, it is not an origin story. The portrayal of a displaced culture not integrating into "society" is very realistic. In our country, native Americans still grapple with depression, alcoholism and high suicide rates.

If you were forced onto an alien world where everything was different, the people and culture completely incomprehensible and you were despised, would you "integrate" yourself into this society? Maybe you would. But typically most cultures forced to relocate do not happily or easily integrate into the new civilization, nor is there a huge effort to help such things along by the existing culture.

At any rate, I agree with you "it was not difficult to sympathize with them," in fact, that was what I found most unsettling. District 9 will be a huge hit, seen by millions of people around the world, no doubt. Will those people leave theaters with the impression "aliens" are good, and apartheid is bad?

Will people be saying, "I can't wait for the sequel, when the aliens come back to kick our asses?" -- (deservedly so, since we're guilty of slicing and dicing their brothers and sisters on MNU operating tables?)

I think that's rather black and white thinking, especially seeing as though the film allows the viewer to come to their own interpretation of the movie. The allegory was somewhat vague, intentionally IMO. The viewer can project their own metaphor onto the aliens, and if they choose to be pro-alien, I don't think you can fault anyone. I mean really, does it have that grand of scope? Do you think ALL aliens are bad? Do you think we should not trust ALL aliens? That's a rather reactionary view to have.

 

[Beau]

Why weren't they integrated? How come their fuel causes genetic mutation of a very specific type? Why didn't the aliens ever use their weapons to defend themselves? How come one alien seems to have intelligence while the rest were rather dumb?

In the beginning, there were news snippets that showed the aliens being thrown out of integrated communities for the bad actions of a few, and forced into the area that became District 9.

Not only that, but also in the beginning it is clearly stated that most if not all of the surviving aliens were of the "worker class" and more like drones. All of the higher caste aliens had perished. Christopher Johnson seems to have been a surviving member of that class, and was obviously not in need of a hive mind to operate. But to expect them to be able to "integrate" or fight back is missing the point that these aliens were clearly lacking in certain areas and just did not fit where they were, therefore what you get is chaos.