On the Couch

District 9

I was mildly disappointed by Doctor Who this Christmas. I’m not a big fan by any stretch but I am fond of dipping in and out of the show safe in the knowledge that any of the Doctor’s exploits – particularly those that coincide with Christmas – will give me the satisfying hit of sci-fi nonsense I occasionally crave.
This year, however, the good Doctor left me unsatisfied and so I turned to District 9 for a solid slice of aliens on Earth malarky. I was not disappointed.
Taking a pinch of V and a good shake of Alien Nation, District 9 is set in Johannesburg 20 years after the arrival of a gigantic spaceship stuffed with a race of interstellar refugees. The first of the film’s many good lines has a news reporter commenting on the world’s surprise at the aliens’ decision not to land over New York, Washington or Chicago and instead make their bearth in South Africa’s largest city.
After the inital wave of first contact euphoria has worn off, the aliens – dubbed the “prawns” by their increasingly discontented hosts – are incorporated into society with about the same level of affection as a fart is given when making its home in a spacesuit.
Relegated to the slums of the titular District 9, their care is outsourced by the government to creepy mega-corp, MNU.
The story takes off when bumbling bureaucrat Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) takes charge of the MNU plan to move the prawn population to a new area. He falls victim to… well, so as not to spoil the story, I’ll just say that he falls victim to science.
Mixing documentary and live action styles District 9 rolls action, big brother paranoia and not just a little social commentary into its “man on the run” tale.
Veins of humour also riddle the meat of the film adding occasional sharp and surprising laughs reminiscent of the grim and sometimes gross humour of Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson’s early films Braindead and Bad Taste.
At the core of this is the astounding performance from Sharlto Copley as the unfortunate van de Merwe. A pleasant sort of a middle management gombeen – part David Brent, part Stan Laurel – his gradual mental, physical and emotional collapse due to the events of the film are made all the more amusing, terrifying and heart-breaking because you really like the guy. He’s not an action hero. He’s just a schmuck like the rest of us.
Of course he goes mental every now and then – so would you if a psychotic townships gangster wanted to rip off your arm to eat it – but it is Copley’s performance that helps ground the rest of the film and lend everything else a veneer of realism.
While the film is special effects heavy – all the aliens are CG – the cracking story is never lost and the provides a more satisfying, and believable, show than many more “grounded” action films released recently.
From magnificent fiction to stark reality – Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker has rightly been hailed as the best film made about the current American occupation of Iraq.
Focusing on the work of an Army explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team, sidesteps many of the problems that previous flicks like Jarhead, Lions for Lambs and Stop-Loss suffered – preachiness and apparent obligation to make an important statement™ with the film and then beat the audience over the head with it.
The film follows roughly 50 days in the work of a bomb squad in post-invasion Iraq. The focus falls mostly on Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) a talented but emotionally unsettled specialist – and the toll that the fear and paranioa that makes up part of even the most basic day-to-day tasks for the occupying US forces takes on him and his squad.
The film’s strength comes from the reserve with which Bigelow treats the insane conditions both the soldiers and locals find themselves in. Nothing is trumpeted, nothing is condemned. Drama is drama, audience make up your own mind.
Once again a strong performance, Renner’s in this case, anchors the film but an excellent supporting cast adds depth to the action.
And make no mistake, while this is a well made and thoughtful war movie, it is not a lecture to be suffered through. Bigelow knows how to thrill an audience and she does so with skill. An excellent night in.