Prawns will never be the same again (District 9 (DVD))

Member Name: sausages04

Product:	District 9 (DVD)
Date:	19/09/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent special effects, good/unique storyline

Disadvantages: slow to start off

This is a film that you should all watch, its started off slow but it did get going and I thought it was a great, original and thought provoking film. Not often do we see something different on the big screens, its always the usual same old same old.

District 9 is different, or at least I felt it was.

Its shot in documentary format and tells the story of aliens whose ship has apparently run out of fuel? And has stranded them on earth, above Johannesburg, SA of all places an something of an irony which im sure isn't coincidental. With no method of getting back home, the aliens become refugees on earth and are homed in a shambles of a dwelling known as district 9.

There numbers grow and there is significant resentment building up among the humans, its decided that the aliens will be re-homed elsewhere as they are "not welcome" where they are. This however is a bit of a ruse and the large multi national company MNU which is looking after the settlement has other ideas. They basically want to try and control alien tech for their own financial gain, but cant as it only works with alien DNA.

Now, following our main character, he becomes exposed to an alien liquid which slowly transforms him into an alien, he quickly becomes a target of MNU who realise he can help them utilise alien tech. Our hero realises he has little or no chance in the real world and has to escape to district 9, its here that he discovers there is a cure to his transformation. He helps an alien and long story short after a shoot out with some amazing CGI, absolutely stunning I tell ya, the aliens escape, but not all of them. The hero, well I'll let you watch and see for yourselves what happens to him.

This film makes you think, it certainly made me think, it tries to tackle issues of race and tolerance or intolerance of the human race.

Aliens landing in South Africa and facing extreme violence, discrimination and subjected to living in degrading conditions, this in a country which has only recently overcome its own issue of a similar nature and has yet to fully overcome them 100%. Was this just sheer coincidence the writers didn't place them in NY or LA?

As human's, is this really how we treat those that are different to us in some way, and why? It forces us to look at ourselves and question things, most of the aliens were not intelligent and were perhaps worker drones or something, these were treated the worst by humans. It's almost as if the humans thought this lot are too stupid to use their own weaponry and ships etc, we'll take it. Despite the fact that it was the aliens who had managed to conquer light speed and travel across the galaxy.

I admit it's not the best, but it is a good film and well worth a watch

Summary: well worth a watch