About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2009)
“Goin* to the Show...” with... Roland Willis DISTRICT 9 Starring: Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood, David James, Louis Minnaar & Jason Cope Directed by Neill Blomkomp Written by Neill Blomkomp & Terri Tatchell Running Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes Rated R - Profanity and extreme violence This fascinating film is an exten sion of the experiences of writer, director Neill Blomkamp while grow ing up through the years of apart heid in South Africa. In 1966, the inner-city District 6 in Cape Town, South Africa was declared a ‘white only’ area by the apartheid government and the inhabitants were forcibly moved to Cape Flats, a bleak area 25 km. from the city. This action caused Blomkamp to write and direct a six minute short film entitled, ‘Alive in Joburg’ which was released by Spy Films in 2005. The influential producer Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings series, Heavenly Creatures ) was so impressed that he asked Blomkamp to expand this short into a full length feature, and District 9 is the result. A very large alien space craft has mysteriously stalled above Johan nesburg. After 3 months of inactivi ty, the South Africans break into the craft and find thousands of aliens malnourished and in distress. They have the appearance of man- size prawns and are referred to as ‘prawns’ by the local people. These aliens are thought to be workers but their leaders cannot be found. In a fine, humanitarian gesture, the government builds a refugee camp in the city and provides them with the necessities of life. As the movie opens, some 20 years later, there are now some 1.2 million aliens in the camp and, as is typical of refugee camps, conditions have deteriorated and the locals have become very upset with this cesspool in their midst, and with the ‘prawns’ who continually break out of the camp in search of whatever. The camp is surrounded by layers of barbed wire and policed by the security arm of a private company, Multinational United (MNU). The main interest of MNU is in weapons research and they are perplexed by the powerful weapons brought by the aliens. These weap ons have a biological safeguard in that the trigger will only recognize the DNA pattern of specific aliens, presumably the missing leaders. Anyway, Nazi style, MNU is con ducting brutal biological experiments on the aliens in an attempt to crack the code. Into this mix are Nigerian black- marketeers who live in the camp and do a thriving business in cat food which the ‘prawns’ love. (The idea of cat food came from one of the producers who used cat food as bait for real prawns around Vancouver.) The Nigerians are heavily armed and as vicious as the worst Afri can militia. Their leader, Obesandju played by Eugene Khumbanyiwa is terrifying. Eventually, the authorities decide to forcibly move the camp some 25 km. outside of Johannesburg. One of the MNU managers, Piet 3dcmd CINEMAS Sea Island Rd. at Frederica Rd. www.hollywood.conn MOVIES INFO. BARGAIN . 634-9100 MATINEES DAILY. r INGLOURIOUS > BASTERDS (R) Mon-Thurs 1:45,5:00,8:30 POST GRAD (PG-13) Mon-Thurs 1:15,3:25,5:35, 7:45,9:55 SHORTS (PG) Mon-Thurs 1:00,3:15,5:25, 7:35,9:45 BANDSLAM (PG) Mon-Thurs 4:20 DISTRICT 9 (R) Mon-Thurs 2:00,4:45,7:30,10:15 THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (PG-13) Mon-Thurs 1:40,4:10,7:00,9:30 G.l. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (PG-13) Mon-Thurs 1:20,7:20,10:10 JULIE & JUILA (PG-13) Mon-Thurs 1:30,4:30,7:15,10:00 THE ISLANDER, AUGUST 24, 2009, PAGE 11 Smit (Louis Minnaar) decides to pro mote his son-in-law, Wikus van der Merwe, and puts him in charge of the forced evacuation. The story opens in documentary style with interviews with Wikus’s co-workers and then follows the adventures of Wikus as he tries to evict the ‘prawns’ without violence. The ‘prawns’ speak prawn-talk and their conversations are subti tled. Sharlto Copley is the ideal choice to play Wikus. He is not an actor and was picked by Blomkamp when he somehow stumbled onto the set of District 9. And he stumbles through this film beautifully capturing the antics of a kind man, a simple bureaucrat thrown into this complicated mess and dealing with forces that he does not recognize nor understand. Many of the shots are with hand held cameras and were shot in real refugee camps. No one wants to see the appall ing conditions in refugee camps and we would turn a blind eye if they were shown as such. But, if they are inhabited by aliens then we do not look away. In this subtle way Blom kamp gets us closely observe and acknowledge that millions of human beings are spending their lives in these places. There is a lot going on in this movie. Unfortunately, there are scenes copied straight from Black Hawk Down and from Aliens, and the hand-held camera stuff is always irritating. Otherwise this is a very good movie movie. My rating is B. □ (^.ool Music for the Warm Nights 200B Season sponsored by
