2009 Best Film Nominee #9- District 9

No, I didn’t rank District 9 number 9 to match the title. I put it here, ultimately, because I liked the idea of the film more than the actual film. District 9 is a very ambitious movie that deals with themes ranging from apartheid to Christianity: all encompassed in a sci-fi thriller. I love the scope it tried to cover, but unfortunately the pursuit of that scope hurt the story.

First, I criticized The Blind Side in my last post for not having the best picture style, something that is a non-issue for District 9. Aesthetically, the film works. The handheld style and bookend documentary-style segments contribute to the film’s goal of making this hypothetical world seem all the more real, a great choice for those purposes, but at the cost of the storytelling.

I love story, and I think the documentary style segment up front crippled the film’s story. In this segment, the film shows all the necessary exposition explaining how the world came to be the way it is. It explains how the aliens arrived, how they were discovered, how they are treated, etc. It reveals all the possible reveals of the story so that by the time the story begins, we the audience already know every interesting aspect of this imaginary world. This choice allows the film to jump right into exploring its themes, but it blows the opportunity to gradually clue us in on how this world differs from our own, making the story drier as a result.

The documentary style approach also leads to my second point: the media in the film. Starting with such a long, documentary style segment allows the audience to remain arm’s length from the story and the main character (Wikus) for two reasons. First, rather than feeling like we’re being drawn into the story and building a level of intimacy with it and its characters, we are reminded through the opening documentary that we are sitting on our couch watching characters on a screen. It’s like watching the Discovery channel if you knew that everything was fake. You may care about the people you’re watching, but only if you really force yourself to, which leads to my second point. Why should we? If the terrible treatment of these creatures is commonplace for this new world (as the distribution through media would suggest), then what’s the big deal? Why should I care what happens to these people and in this story. I can flip on the news and see similar things happening to real people in the real world and not care enough to do anything about it, so why should I care about these fake people in this fake world? I understand that is one of the points of the film, but it sacrifices the uniqueness and effectiveness of the story in order to make the point. It makes the film more of an academic hypothesis rather than a movie with a gripping story, which is fine, except that if the goal is to make the themes resonate with the audience, the latter of which is a much more effective vehicle.

Finally, I think this film simply bit off more than it could chew. It has so many themes and so many allusions that they dominate the entire movie. It set up this hypothetical world: what if aliens arrived and they were non-violent and, for the most part, submissive? Rather than choosing one aspect of that story and running with it, the film seemingly tries to cover EVERYTHING that would happen. It covers corporate and government corruption, apartheid, religion (any time a character’s name has the initials “JC” or the word “Christ” in it, look out for a literary “Christ figure”. This film’s two for two: Christ-opher Johnson - initials flipped), organized crime, drugs, prostitution, etc. It seems so concerned with shedding light on human nature and how our societies and governments work, that the story is simply meant to serve these themes, instead of the themes organically arising from a well-told story. The approach the filmmakers took is not wrong; I just think it is very difficult to cover the breadth of topics they take on in less than two hours. I would like to have seen this film approached as a television series along the lines of The Wire. I think with the added time, characters could have been developed to the point that the aforementioned topics would have more significance when they occur to and around our characters and, ultimately, I think the themes would have resonated more.

Overall, District 9 swings for the fences and, I won’t say it struck out, but that ball definitely stayed in play. I love the topics it deals with and it approaches them in a fresh, imaginative way. The film quality is superb and fits the goals of the film and the acting is good as well. On the other hand, it might be the most boring alien invasion story ever told. If you enjoy watching a film with your mind instead of your heart and/or you love any and everything sci-fi, I highly recommend this film. However, for the average movie-goer looking for an entertaining story, this one might not be for you.

Scale:

1- Lots of Better Movies at Blockbuster

2- Might Be Worth Renting

3- Rent It When You Get to It

4- A Must Rent, at some point

5- Put It in Your Queue NOW!

My Rating: 3

Buy District 9 (Two-Disc Edition)