The James Logan Courier

By Shamal Asnani, Courier Film Critic

Anyone who is looking to watch a movie that is completely out of the norm should definitely watch District 9, which was released on Blu-Ray and DVD around last Christmas. Although someone might look at movie and say,” oh it’s just another alien movie,” District 9 is far much more. The movie is about a large group of aliens that become stranded in Johannesburg, South Africa. After the aliens are discovered, they are given refuge at a government site; however, this is not given to them under pleasant terms. The area they are given quickly begins to resemble a slum, due to their harsh mistreatment by the government. The aliens are forced to start dealing in illegal arms and join gangs in order to barely survive, until they are able to find a way to get back home.

One of the main reasons District 9 is a great movie to watch is that it contains many strong themes. One of these themes was meant to resemble the inhumanity of District 6, which was a residential area of Cape Town, which is known for its forced relocation of over 60,000 inhabitants in the 1970’s. The film also uses the aliens as a tool of showing the inhumanities of racism. The aliens can easily be viewed and compared to real life minorities, who have been forced to endure many prejudices, such as segregation.

Another incredible aspect of the film was its ability to manipulate the audience’s emotions, particularly through the character Wikus (Sharlto Copley). In the film Wikus is a manager in a department of alien affairs, and shows very little sympathy towards the aliens in the beginning of the movie. However, as the film progresses, he becomes much more sympathetic towards the aliens, due to an infection that is causing his body to transform into one of them. This transformation allows the audience, who at first probably hated his character, to begin to feel sorry for him. If you find yourself tired of watching the same old kind of movies, District 9 is definitely a movie for you.