Summer Movie Tour: District 9

I know that summer is quickly fading, and that it has been a while since the Summer Movie Tour has made a pit stop. It's been a rough couple of weeks and movie-watching hasn't been on the agenda. However, that did change this week. I was able to take an afternoon and catch a couple of movies. First off, District 9.

District 9 is an unusual alien movie. It begins, and ends, in a documentary style. Interposed throughout the movie are news-channel reports as well as a fair amount of action. The story begins twenty years ago when the mothership comes to rest over Johannesburg, South Africa. The ship is opened up and thousands of aliens (who come to be known as "Prawns") are living inside and severely malnourished. With the world watching, the South African government established shacks as temporary homes for the aliens. Eventually, the random alien violence and fear of the aliens led to District 9 being established. The temporary shacks have become slums and have been closed off from the rest of the city with a significant military presence "keeping the peace." The city of Johannesburg has established a new tent city to which they are attempting to relocate the aliens. In the midst of serving eviction notices, something goes terribly wrong for one of the employees.

My assessment: District 9 is great... if you can get pass the pervasive "f-bombs" and violence. One more than one occasion, alien technology is used that, basically, explodes some people - what should remain on the inside splatters all over the place, including, sometimes, the camera itself (accompanied with obligatory sound effects). The violence is not limited to alien-to-human, there is also a fair amount of human-to-alien violence as well. What perhaps strikes me most about the film is the fact that about halfway through, you start to wonder who the true monsters are. There are some aliens that display more humanity than some of the humans. It is striking, and makes me wonder about the setting of the film given the apartheid government that was so horrible in South Africa.

My recommendation: If you can handle the violence and the language - go see it, right away. It is a fantastic movie. This is definitely one that will end up on my DVD shelf someday.