District 9 out of 10

Last night, I went to see the movie District 9. It is difficult to formulate my thoughts on the movie as of yet. You can tell this from the reviews given by movie-goers and critics alike. Some love it and some hate it. Personally, I really liked it. District 9 is a first in many ways. It is the first alien thriller to have prolonged exposure of the alien species to humans, it is the first to have the aliens portrayed as the underdogs and it is the first to show the socio-political tensions between the clashing extraterrestrial civilizations. From the very beginning, with its documentary style that slowly fades to a traditional fiction movie, the story had me intrigued and I spent most of the movie with a curious, thoughtful look on my face.

District 9 is essentially a slum set up outside Johannesburg in South Africa to house an alien population the "Prawns" which has landed on Earth without the ability to go home. In this slum we see the typical shady activities of life in Johannesburg, in Prawn weapons dealing, inter-species prostitution and drug trafficking (in catfood). We also see various factions trying to discover the secret to operating the Prawn weaponry; government agencies such as the MNU through scientific means and Nigerian gangs through witchcraft. The government controlled slum creates a mood reminiscent of the apartheid era in South Africa with signs dictating where humans and non-humans are allowed to travel, do business, and live.

While humans try to exploit the Prawns for everything they can offer including flesh, the aliens attempt to carve out a niche and a living in the Johannesburg community while being suppressed by military agents and fought by angry human citizens. In ways South Africa was the perfect setting for this movie, as it is the most culturally, ethnically and racially diverse nation in the world and has long experienced racial tensions and bouts of xenophobic violence; foreigners are nothing new to South Africa. With that and South Africa's clash of tribal and modern civilization it is the perfect place for first contact.

If you go into the movie expecting Independence Day or Signs where the aliens are purely malicious and it is a struggle for human survival, you are not going to enjoy this movie. The best way to enjoy this movie is to go into it with absolutely no expectations and just take it in as you go. If you can't help but have expectations, expect slum politics and economics. Don't expect the humans to play the good guys because the movie brands humans as selfish and don't expect a heroic defeat of alien supremacy because the aliens are definitely the underdogs. District 9 is an atypical alien invasion movie. Because of this, I give it a 9 out of 10 for trying something completely different.