District 9 Review

District 9 was created by Neill Blomkamp and co-written by Terri Tachell. This movie is a sci-fi thriller that deals with aliens coming to earth. Although another alien movie might be seen as cliché, the twist with district 9 is that the aliens don’t want to destroy earth, but rather they have been shipwrecked over Africa and are forced to live in a refugee district located in the suburbs of Johannesburg. Throughout the 28 years of their occupation of district 9, the aliens have become desensitized and behave in an erratic manner. The movie take shape around the forced eviction of the aliens from district 9 to another more spacious camp in response to the public outcry that the aliens are a menace. The values represented in this movie are understanding and acceptance. In district 9, humans never became accustomed to the aliens. Instead of making an effort to beneficially coexist, humans ostracized the aliens and blamed them for a host of different things. It is only when the human protagonist starts interacting with the aliens that it becomes clear that the aliens and humans share many of the same emotions and characteristics. What humans needed was to be more accepting towards the aliens and learn more about them. Certain people might view this movie as just another science fiction thriller that lacks any vestige of originality, but other might view it as a highly original spin on the cliché alien-invade-earth movie. District 9 is sending a message that humans must be tolerant of others that we might not understand as well as ourselves. When we ostracize a group, we fail to learn from each other in a way that is beneficial to all. This film portrays God as a benefactor that will return one day. Just like the alien in the movie, Jesus will return one day to end our afflictions. He made a promise- and he intends to keep it.

Michael Aguilar
1-19-2010
UNST: The Gospel According to Wall-E
District 9 Review