District 9

Widely regarded as the best indie movie of 2009, District 9 is the brainchild of rookie director and story writer Neill Blomkamp; under the guidance and supervision of the Lord of the Rings' famed Peter Jackson.

Both directors were originally contracted to film a Halo movie, but after the project was canned, Neill Blomkamp pushed his original screenplay District 9 onto the indie scene.



In 1982, a massive star ship bearing an alien population, nicknamed "Prawns," appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Twenty-eight years later, the initial welcome by the human population has been worn out. The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited. In 2010, Multi-National United, a munitions dealer disguised as a social reconciliation group, is contracted to forcibly evict the population under the direction of the newly promoted Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley).

And I'M NOT GIVING ANY MORE OF THE PLOT AWAY. Seriously, watch the movie instead. You'll enjoy it much more if you experience everything that Wikus goes through as you are watching him go through it.




In District 9, the only character given an extreme amount of depth is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley). The 2 other 'main' characters (if you can call them that) are Christopher Johnson, who, as a Prawn, must deal with the pre-conceived tension between himself and the human population; and the antagonist, Koobus Venter, a special forces soldier who is hired by M.N.U. to exterminate any Prawns that do not co-operate with the M.N.U. relocation.
The at-this-time-unknown Sharlto Copley does a brillant characterization of Wikus, portraying him at first as an intelligent, albeit socially awkward, member of the M.N.U. who has a strong devotion to his wife and a desire to impress his father-in-law, a high-ranking board member of M.N.U. Due to the nature of the plot, I can't really reveal how his character progresses, but Sharlto Copley transitions the character at a believable, seamless pace and deserves a lot of recognition as an actor for his performance in this role.
Again, due to the nature of the plot, I can't reveal much about the characters of Christopher Johnson or Koobus Venter, but Venter is the archetypical military black ops man with a penchant for murder and Christopher Johnson plays the father trying to teach his son tolerance and racial pride.

The movie's main focus is a social commentary on racism and tolerance of people, or in this case, creatures, that have similar values as far as family and social structure goes. It has asides to gang violence, organized crime and corporate-government exploitation, but it never looks sight of it's original purpose, a good science fiction movie with an underlying message about unity.




GROUND ZERO: I didn't call it the best indie movie of 2009 for nothing. Everyone should watch this movie at least once to know what people were talking about for all those months is was really popular. Sharlto Copley is by far and away one of the most talented new actors to emerge in recent years, and while the movie may be a bit dark at times (not for me, but for the younger people who are maybe reading this), the story, satire, dark humor, and masterful use of CGI by Peter Jackson make it worth watching. All that, plus impeccable acting by Copley, all on just a $30 million budget. If there were more films like this, the world would be a better place all around.

5 out of 5