District 9
Movie Reviews: District 9
The movie “District 9″ was released on Friday, to much public fanfare, lots of critical acclaim, as well as the coveted top spot at the box office. It gives one hope for the future when the months of hype leading up to the release of an imaginative, groundbreaking movie actually manifests into something worth our time and attention, instead of being the next ‘Waterworld’. And considering “District 9″ was brought to the big screen for the bargain basement price of $30 million, and went on to make $36 million dollars its first weekend, we can probably expect to see “District 10″ and “District 11″ in the next 5 years.
And that’s not a bad thing. As much as one appreciates new twists on old ideas, such as the near pitch-perfect, stellar re-imagining of “Star Trek” that J.J. Abrams brought to the next generation of movie watchers this summer, it’s inspiring to discover that, yes, Hollywood CAN still come up with fresh, new ideas, instead of recycling old franchises until the remakes of remakes get remade (does the Michael Myers/Halloween timeline even make logical sense anymore? What is Rob Zombie doing there? Who knows, or cares, anymore?)
The point is: “District 9″’s success gives a weary movie watcher hope for a variety of reasons: it touches on the still-relevant (depressingly, probably eternally relevant) issue of racism and xenophobia, and fear of “the other”, paralleling aliens to our own various outcast societies, and the severity of the situation we treat them with, from social ostracizing to outright imprisonment. This movie’s R rating necessarily explores the violence that befalls the marginalized, from physical to psychological, and that teaser clip of the “prawn” (aka alien creature, already fitted with one of humankind’s inevitable and demeaning racial epithets) declaring “I just want to go home” captures the essence of the basics of Life 101. We all want simple needs met, and we all want to feel accepted on a certain level.
Most importantly, the movie line of “District 9″ takes place in 2010, which is next year in “the real world”. Unfortunately, it seems extremely plausible for it to happen, and cinema at its best provides lessons for us to take home long after the credits roll. We still oppress each other in every arena imaginable, we still exclude each other from parts of our shared life, and we still fear those who are different from us to the point where we will commit violence upon one another. “District 9″ thankfully merges the factual with the science fictional, and takes an uncharacteristically risky leap by Hollywood standards by setting the movie in South Africa, letting the obvious apartheid/racism in general parallels set in, and make the lead character an unlikable African man.
Too few science fiction movies have taken as many bold steps as “District 9″, and for that reason, its success inspires hope. Hope in Hollywood, hope in audiences, and hope in the ability of film to educate and enlighten as well as entertain. I hope they make a franchise out of it. And hope that it sparks a new wave of wholly imaginative movie-making. Because “Starship Troopers” was a great idea that turned bad much too soon. Countless examples exist of Hollywood failing with potentially amazing ideas. “District 9″ finally breaks the curse.
