So after two weeks of torture I finally managed to see the most hyped film of the year. Coming into movie I hated having such a subjective view on it: rave reviews, bombastic claims, South Africa etc, yet this probably is the first movie that has ever justified its hype for me. Before I continue, I warn thee of a potential spoiler alert. So please refrain from reading further if you’ve not seen the movie. If you haven’t… shame on you! Go see it! NOW!

Within in the first few minutes of the film I realized South Africans are watching a totally different film to international viewers. The introduction made the apartheid analogy so apparent, almost to extent of parodying the race/class difference. It was even funny the way they stereotyped it. A few black people sat in front of us in the movie and laughed their asses off at the black people complaining about the aliens [I also laughed, mind you]. Guess time has healed the Apartheid wounds, and it’s in fact now funny.

Wikus’ almost stereotypical Guateng-er accent and vibe worked so great in the start of the film. It made his character humble, which worked later in contrast for his yearning to return to normal. When Wikus swore, everyone in the audience laughed most of the times, as it’s probably the most Afrikaans we’ve ever seen in such an international hit (and it’s not with lame accents). It’s the real deal. Some Afrikaans utterances, also would go lost among international viewers: “Fokken doos”, “Voetsek”, “Fokken Bliksem”, “Bring my die fokken gun” etc. It made the movie so much more real. At least the rest of the world now knows how to swear in Afrikaans!

Talking about real, I’ve never been so engrossed and drawn into a movie before. It was amazing. District 9 didn’t waiver on violence and language thus it made it so much more compelling. Seeing Wikus going through his ordeal was a rollercoaster ride to say the least. The fact that you constantly had to switch sides between Christopher (the alien) and Wikus on who’s the hero, also created intrigue.

The aliens’ CGI were superbly mixed in with the environment and one quickly lost concept of their creation. They felt so real. Almost human-like and relatable. The scene where Wikus clobbers Christopher over the head to jump into the escape pod/module with the subsequent interrogation of the army, made me feel so uncomfortable and sad for him. In my mind I was going “don’t hit the alien! Back off you losers!” and after the movie I questioning why I felt this connection to them. They were so human and real that it made me shudder every time they were treated badly. It just makes the apartheid analogy so much more powerful, as the aliens could’ve easily been black people hit on by the police.

There were so many more awesome things in the movie: the weapons (which oddly reminds me so much of Unreal Tournament/Quake), the mix of news broadcasts, the documentary style clips, the open ending, Sharlto Copley, the mothership, the alien language etc. It truly is in my opinion a huge leap forward for South African film and sci-fi films even. Aliens shouldn’t always be “the Other”. I’m going to watch this film again. I’ve even started learning the alien language, that’s how much I liked this film. District 9, although has some unanswered questions and minor plotholes, the fact that it made the experience so real and relatable was a journey I’ve seldom felt in a movie. I still wonder how international viewers see the film, want goeie fok dit was goed.

Related posts:

1. Transformers 2: The Sorta Review
2. District 9 – The Irony
3. The Fourth Kind

Tags: District 9, South Africa
View Comments