In Singapore, District 9 is a prime location. In Johannesburg, it is an asylum for the aliens. For the aliens?! I swear I had no idea what “District 9” is about. I thought it has something to do with “District 13”. I thought it was a reference to non-citizen, like some countries do. At the end of the movie, I wanted more hoping that there is a sequel. Maybe “District 10”. Cynthia on my left and TK on my right both collapsed onto their seats wanting to puke. Normally, they are amongst the first who get onto their feet wanting to leave the theatre the moment the show ends. The shaky camera effect certainly has made their stomachs and knees go weak. I am an avid gamer and I handle visual motion sickness well. Poor Cynthia and TK. If you can’t handle “The Tony Blair Witch Project” kind of effect – although I thought “District 9” is pretty mild compares to that – pick a seat somewhere as far away from the big screen as possible. It helps.
The idea behind “District 9” is original. And it got me thinking on our humanity. No one knows exactly why an alien mothership hovers on top of Johannesburg and stops right there. Politicians, academics, civilians, and media are brought in to cover this strange event. Not long later, the military has found a way to cut into the ship and is greeted by more than a million malnutrition and leaderless aliens on board. Human then has decided to bring the aliens out from the ship and reside them directly underneath (wouldn’t all the aliens or “prawns” be killed if the mothership was to fall one day?). “District 9” is then formed. The story continues with how the two interact and co-exist.
“District 9” triggers many thoughts in me. Not sure why, I associated the beginning of the show with how Israel was re-established in the Middle East. But of course, later on I read that the film is inspired by a “whites only” District 6 in Cape Town in the year of 1966. That makes perfect sense. Also, while I shall be disgusted by the insect-like aliens, I was in fact disgusted by the flaws of the humans. How we act selfishly out of greed and self-interest. Aliens, on the other hand, are portrayed as noble advanced beings (OK, more like the main alien characters and not all).
I enjoy watching how the characters – aliens and humans – emotionally react to the situations. I enjoy watching so much realism and details go into the filming of this movie. Some parts are pure hilarious (like those posters and signage on “no aliens are allowed”). The ending does seem open to me. So I hope there is a “District 10” in the near time horizon.
7 replies on “District 9 – Got Me Thinking”
Oh this sounds interesting. I didnt know there is this movie..
Si Ying – I also didn’t know … lol. Somehow I really like this one.
Interesting that you thought of the Israeli/Palestinian issue. Despite District 9’s producers protestations to the contrary, I believe that someone in creative control of the project intended to make a statement about Israel. If not, then it is pure coincidence that the humans carry Tavor and Galil rifles-both Israeli manufactured weapon systems rather than one of a hundred other makes of firearm.
Jon B – You too thought the same about the Israeli and the Palestinians? That’s cool. I didn’t notice the rifles. Thanks for pointing out.
Fortunately, the film doesn’t make it too many political statements except the standard observation of our human behavior.
[…] I have received an email on my N97 (the text message reminder came much later, while we were watching a movie at night). Yes, the book was ready for collection. Hooray! The library was just opposite to where we […]
I watched this movie last weekend….VERY INTERESTING, more on the dark side though…I reali liked the way it was directed and itz different to other movies , the story line was good.
I like how ur thinking says that humans are portrayed as being selfish and how aliens are more noble? I guess it got me thinking deeper too, i somehow put myself into those situations and asked myself, if i were in that situation, what would i do? Sometimes its a reali hard choice in life/death circumstances..
The only thing i would like to add is that at the beginning the movie did not realli explain how aliens and humans were able to understand each others’ languages, but i guesed this was assumed after 20 yrs + the fast advancement of technology..
Im hoping there will be a sequel if he ever comes back after 3 yrs to save him XD
Luisa – Yes, you brought up a good point. I did have a good discussion with my friend on how the alien and the human can communicate. His explanation is that initially they can’t. They are not replying to each other. Only when that guy is transformed into an alien, he begins to understand the alien language. So, the linguistic ability is in the alien DNA?
I will need to watch this again to confirm that. Ha ha ha.
Yep. 3 years. Hope the sequel returns sooner than that, lol.