MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

District 9 Rated R

Directed by Neill Blomkamp.  Starring Sharito Copley, Jason Cope.



Photo ©Sony/Screen Gems
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Back in the 1950s there were dozens of science fiction movies that commented on recent events (WWII and the atomic bomb) within the context of a creature feature. 

District 9 is an entertaining, exciting, deadly serious and sometimes funny film for our generation that takes on apartheid as well as any system that decides to imprison or seclude a race of people – or, in this case, aliens from another planet. 

For some unknown reason, a giant spaceship breaks down and hovers over Johannesburg, South Africa.  An exploration team opens up the spaceship and finds thousands of creatures that look like large insects, close to death.  The creatures (which the media calls “prawns”) are nursed back to health and then placed in a tent city, later to be moved to a detention center that is called “District 9”. 

Wikus vanderMerwe (Copley) is the Afrikaner in charge of the migration, and this process will run into a hitch or two along the way.  Two of the prawns will become central figures in the adventure, and their names are (no foolin’) Christopher Johnson and his son Little CJ. 

District 9 was made by Neill Blomkamp, a South African filmmaker (with experience in advertising and music videos), assisted with fantastic CGI effects from Peter Jackson’s WETA Workshop.  These aliens have a worn-down, stop-motion kind of feel, which is refreshing when compared to the slick, sophisticated and cartoony look of most computer animation.

There’s something for everyone (everyone who likes science fiction, that is) and not all of the parts are equally impressive.   The film is essentially in three parts: 1. A long prelude that explains the situation in a mockumentary format (clever but dry); 2. Wikus’ relationship with the prawns (interesting and imaginative); and 3. An action-packed finale (silly).

District 9 reminds us of humanity’s ability throughout history to oppress and encage (via prisons, detention centers, ghettos or concentration camps) those whom we do not quite understand.  The Kingdom of God intends to knock down those walls once and for all; what’s keeping us from acting in that spirit today?

Pitchfork Rating:
Three halos. (An entertaining sci-fi movie with an attitude and some sobering commentary on how people deal with the unknown.)
Two picthforks. (Pervasive swearing (some of it in the subtitles!); violence and gore with a high “yuck” factor.]

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