Review: District 9 (2009), Neill Blomkamp

This review is critically analysing Neil Blomkamp's movie "District 9". This movie is about cultural problems between people and it asks before discriminating someone to look through his eyes firs. This review is based on Roger Ebert's, James Berardinelli's and Peter Travers's reviews.

Figure1

District 9 is not one of those ordinary sci-fi movies. It plays with something very familiar to us and uses many cheats in the designs of the aliens. The aliens are basically a mix of human and prawn. They have eyebrows and many other anatomical details that makes them very human like. Prawn is not a dangerous creature, but it is not too cute too, so this design is something like a human of a very different race. Roger Ebert talks: "“District 9” does a lot of things right, including giving us aliens to remind us not everyone who comes in a spaceship need be angelic, octopod or stainless steel. They are certainly alien, all right. It is also a seamless merger of the mockumentary and special effects " (Chicago Sun Times, August 13, 2009). Although UFO still have this usual plate shaped form it is not shiny, but weirdly it also fits perfectly to the place where it lands. Somehow it looks like creators took absolutely different approach from a different angle to put it not in the most symbolically important places of earth by toady's typical understandings, but somewhere else - also big, but full of problems already environment. Peter Travers adds that: "Using a documentary style, with harsh lighting and hand-held cameras, he sets the scene for the vividly real horrors that follow" (Rolling Stone Reviews, August 13, 2009). On the other hand since everything is taken to this other environment and approach, but at the same time everything matches so perfectly with it's style and texture we get this question: "Why does everything looks so perfectly together?". Even though it might have been a goal in the movie to do this, they do not look like aliens anymore. James Berardinelli says: "Although the story is told, there are untiled ground and unanswered questions - not the least of which is what will happen in three years. A sequel, if one is warranted, is effectively set up, but is not mandatory." (Reelviews, August 12, 2009). The movie in deed leaves you some space to breathe and just to make your own ending. It really works well and it really doesn't need a second part, but because of the major succes we can definitely expect that something will come up.

Figure2

All in all this movie has a lot to offer. It can make you to think about world wide problems or just astound you with it's special effects. Aliens are not look like proper outsiders, but it just something to make the story work better.

Illustrations:

Figure1: Aliens being moved out of the District 9
http://www.trespassmag.com/invictus-district-9-a-south-africans-perspective/

Figure2: Main character changes radically
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Talk:District_9

Bibliography:

Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun Times, August 13, 2009)
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090812/REVIEWS/908129987/1023

James Berardinelli (Reelviews, August 12, 2009)
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1766

Peter Travers (Rolling Stone Reviews, August 13, 2009)
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/district-9-20090813