District 9 : Humane Perspective
August 20th, 2009 | by Ridhima Suri |An 8 stars for my husband. A 7 stars for me. District 9 is a very different movie from the likes that we see these days. The movie focusses on a rather unusual story depicting aliens grounded on Earth in South Africa. The movie strikes different cords such as:
- The compassion shown by humans to rescue the aliens and provide them with health care and a place to live.
- The aliens living in slums on Earth!
- The slums quiet similar to the ones in poor nations in the world where the difference in standard of living is a $ a day between the poor and the poorer. The treatment of aliens like animals and refuse is somewhat similar to the treatment of many underprivileged societies in the world.
- The subtle difference between the powerful and the powerless. Recall the scene where the alien kid throws a stone and the military shoots back with a sophisticated gun!
- The compassion of an ordinary man to help another species and eventually become one of them.
- The greed of the humans to amass wealth and power irrespective of the poor means.
The movie is a good watch if you can appreciate the subtleties and novelty of the theme.
The initial 30 minutes were not very interesting for me, personally as I do not like the ‘documentary’ style of shooting and the protege appeared to be imitating ‘Borat’. I thought that someone was playing with my emotions with the sarcasm and humor in the initial half.
The last 45 minutes of the movie had good action (nothing as compared to Batman, Superman, Resident Evil but decent, nevertheless) and the pace got my attention! Nonetheless, the movie has been appreciated by many for the quick-witted handling of a novel script. I would not say I loved it like Harry Potter Series or Ironman ( I do not like shaky camera work) but it is a good watch for people who appreciate serious cinema.
Tags: District 9, Movie, Movie on aliens