briefly: district 9

I saw District 9 over the weekend. In short, this weekend's top film (it brought in approximately $37 million) is well worth your box-office dollar.

District 9, which lends its name and premise to the apartheid-era District Six of Cape Town, South Africa, is Neill Blomkamp's directorial debut; the film was produced by Peter Jackson. Jackson is not a cinema figure who lacks credibility in my eyes, and that fact certainly eroded most of my leeriness as I entered the theater to view the latest box-office blockbuster. (District 9 is a blockbuster without the eye-popping budget – the film was made for a scant $30 million.)

Film reviews aren't my thing, so I'm not going to provide any in-depth analysis of the film. (Besides, enough bloggers and critics have offered their opinions of the film, and I don't think I can add much to that flurry of verbiage.) And, personally, I prefer to know as little as possible about a film before I view it.

District 9 offers something for everyone: it has a great, albeit oft-told, sci-fi story; there's enough gunpowder and intergalactic weaponry discharged to satisfy one's thirst for action; the CGI is impressive; the drama is sufficient to tug at practically everyone's heart strings; and the film's satire lurks just under the surface, biting when necessary. Blomkamp wears many cinematic hats to tell his story (a story that is based on his short film Alive in Joburg). The mockumentary approach is used; first-person camera angles are employed; and, what I found to be particularly effective, the use of surveillance cameras and clips from a 24-hour cable-news channel (hovering helicopters provide the breaking news money shots) are sparingly used for maximum effect. Indeed, District 9 is a pop film; the film's scope, however, is large enough – and effectively executed – to attract even the skeptics (like me).

In District 9 Neill Blomkamp tells not just a wonderful sci-fi tale; he also offers a reflection of the human condition – and the dastardly depths of human desire.

Highly recommended.

xx