It’s only science fiction, but. . . a story artfully and thoughtfully told is still an excellent tale. Not alien takeover, but alien captivity and survival. Oh, the things we do for technological dominance.

District 9 is one of those rare genre movies whose plot evolves in such a way that you are 20 minutes in before you have to unlearn what you thought you knew was unfolding, and by then it is too late to pay attention to the details that you glossed over on your way to pre-accepting the conventional story flow. Except it’s not that film, it is this one. That is to say, District 9, for all of its thematic evocation of previous alien occupation movies and tv shows, has new things to say and to do. And thus demands a 2nd and 3rd viewing.

I am still trying to decide what kind of parable this turns out to be; its resonance with—not in a stylized retro-homage way—50s s/f films whose message is embedded in the narrative and not in sidebar pronouncements, is salutary. At this stage in my reflection, the themes seem to come down to one form or another of “repent!” Let’s see: fallenness, incarnation, assimilation, redemption, father-son nurture, language and its worldview shifting power. . . And so much of the pathos of the movie emerges from the eyes of the protagonists in both subtle and direct ways. The human “hero” is somewhat of a befuddled everyman, Hitchcockian in a way, but also Tolkienesque, whose reflective growth in conscience and respect over time is central to the movie’s transcendence over lesser and crasser endeavors (Transformers, I am talking about you). And the alien “hero” is a revelation, too, also Tolkienesque in his manner: his predominant, earnest desire is to go home. Not conquer.

I saw a digital print—which may be the only kind or release it has—so I don’t know if some of the fuzziness of vantage point is deliberate or accidental, but it is effective. We have a window on the action but not an HD version; some of the action is frantic and involves endless jaunts through a big junkyard. Shot on a $30 million budget, but under the firm hand of producer Peter Jackson, and the director, South African, Neill Blomkamp, emphasis is on the story not the weaponry, though the latter has its moments too. It’s just satisfying to inhabit a movie without knowing how it’s going to turn out.

I recommend seeing this movie on the large screen in a theatre with great sound, and away from midnight rowdie boys who want to cheer or clap for every slightly off-kilter event or dialogue as if this were their film. I also recommend you take C. S. Lewis’s advice and “receive” rather than “use” this narrative—willingly submitting to the filmmaker’s vision and not trying to retrofit it into a tamer, more comfortable sort of experience you’re used to or prefer. It’s your task to fit into this world, and not the other way around. Isn’t that the reason we make and attend movies?

I detect in some reviewers, including Roger Ebert, some lack of appreciation for what has been accomplished here. District 9 is by far the superior achievement to a movie like, say, Knowing. I can’t begin to count the ways.

But I will start with my next viewing.

 
Posted in Movies, Science Fiction by Bruce Edwards

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