What I Watched -- District 9

J and I watched District 9 on Sunday morning. Really, the reason I watched it (sci-fi is not my thing) was because it was nominated for a number of Oscars. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And after having seen it, I can conclusively say that I'm not sure. My best guess is maybe just that it's Peter Jackson, and he does movies with lots of noise and explosions and body makeup. But Best Picture? Are you serious? From this, I have concluded that 10 is too high a number when it comes to Best Pic nominees, because this film should not have been in that bunch.

For those who know nothing about it, the basic plot is this: an alien spaceship lives in the sky above Johannesburg. The aliens (derogatorily called "prawns" by the humans) who came out of the ship are relegated to an awful slum, the District 9 of the title. Then the humans get the smart idea to remove the aliens to somewhere new: District 10. Inevitably, the sh** hits the fan. One white South African gets sprayed with alien goo and starts to morph into a prawn himself. He creates a tentative alliance with Christopher, the alien whose goo caused the morphing problem; they are both trying to get the goo back from the humans in order to accomplish their various ends.

There was (of course) lots of political commentary in the movie. All the business about life in slums and the division between humans and aliens could not have been more obviously a reference to race divisions and apartheid, especially since they went right ahead and set the movie in South Africa. At a couple points in the movie, you see the inside of a lab where humans are doing experiments on the aliens, which reminded me of the Nazis. References abounded.

And let's not forget Mumbo, the Nigerian warlord who lives in District 9 among the aliens and runs the black market there. He and his band of vigilantes are feared by aliens and humans alike. Nobody messes with them because they are ruthless. Perhaps no one told Peter Jackson this, but there really is a Nigerian warlord named Mumbo, and he was just being himself. Maybe that explains what happens to those extras who disappeared during filming...?

Anywho, if you're into sci-fi and like to see people get vaporized by alien ray guns, by all means, watch this movie. If that's not your bag, don't bother.