District 9 is an absolute gem…and the funny part is…i dont know why!
The film has a documentary feel to it…the kind that reminds one of The Blair Witch Project. It starts off with a series of documentary-like interviews, which lay the story for the viewer. An Alien spaceship arrives above Johhannesberg, some 20 years back…and just stays put. Humans finally decide to do something about it..after they have waited for 3 months…and they enter the ship. Only to find the aliens in a terrible state…as if some epidemic had taken over. So as a gracious welcome, the aliens are moved to the city.
The place where the aliens stay is District 9.
Its been 20 years and people are fed up of District 9. Its a slum (yup…even aliens have one) and the Prawns (which the aliens are called, since they resemble them!) are not welcome in society. So you see all these roadsigns segregating them from humans (which would have been easier for South Africa, considering their past!)
A private company, MNU is entrusted with the task of moving these aliens to a new place of refuge, District 10. Spearheading the task is an MNU employee, Wikus. Its later realized that the very reason why the aliens have been tolerated this far is because of their (guess guess) weapon technology. Unfortunately, there hasnt been any luck on that so far, since humans are incapable of operating those awesome guns!
Wikus sets out on the eviction plan and during once such visits enters into a slum house that has some crazy shit going on. Computers and wires and some equipments etc. He starts to search through the place and in the process spills some dark liquid onto his face, which came from a silver can. he confiscates the can
Wikus’ health starts deteriorating and he is admitted to the hospital. Its there that the doctors realize that his left hand has transformed (or mutated) into an alien hand! MNU immediately takes over him and needless to say, trie to see if he is capable of operating the weapons. And yup…he is! The doctors figure out that by some mechanism the alien DNA has entered Wikus’s body and found a perfect balance with the human DNA. He is still a human, but transforming slowly into an alien.
What happens thereafter is an awesome ride during which Wikus struggles to find his own identify and the secret of what happened to him. It is during this, that he meets Christopher, the alien who had collected that dark fluid over the past 20 years!
District 9 is unlike any other alien movie I have seen before. Yes, it does have fight sequences and ugly aliens, but the underlying tone is very different. Its not, for a change, about aliens trying to kill humans or taking over Earth. Or aliens becoming friends with humans and helping them in their daily chores! Its a thriller…and a good one at that…and its a common man’s story about his fight! I could identify with Wikus’s character because at no time was he a superhero…nor was he the savior of the human race. He was a simple guy who wanted to become a human again and go back home…and think it was all a bad dream!
Brilliantly done…! And yet..its such a simple movie at the end of it!
District 9 is a must watch
Rating: 5/5
Movie Site: http://www.d-9.com/