Entertainment Ireland

Prawns never looked so engaging - declanh

Viewer Rating:

They don't make that many movies that are based in South Africa - though there is one with Matt Damon coming up that retraces the Rugby World Cup that they won. So, what is rare is worthwhile - and this movie is very worthwhile.
If you take it that there are only a small number of cities that Aliens are going to hover over in order to announce their presence to the world - New York, Washington, and for some insane reason it seems that LA is a frequent destination - it is refreshing to see a new backdrop for our Alien visitors to choose to visit. In this case it is Johannesburg - known to many of us for the shanty towns that are portrayed on newscasts of previous decades.
In this movie, rather than being superior beings, the aliens are portrayed as lacking ingenuity, and being more worker bees that have inadvertently arrived on earth and not been able to escape.
Integration with humans is not possible, so they become the inhabitants of the slums, and with a penchant for cat-food, they are separated from the human race.
Interestingly, it is their DNA encoded weapons that prove to be alluring for the corporations of the world, and indeed the Nigerians who interact and trade with them on a daily basis.
Through a backward looking documentary on our lead character "Wickus" - we are investigating "the incident" - initially through flashbacks of an over the shoulder camera that followed him around, and through interviews with his family.
As the story moves quickly to establish the background, of the aliens, of Wickus, and the situation that persists in the shanty town, and the proposed move of the "Prawns" (the aliens) to a new are - "District 9".
After an accident that seeks Wickus sprayed with an unknown chemical, his behaviour rapidly changes, and he is disowned by his employers.
The CGI effects are so well done that you don't feel that they are intrusive - and they enable the story to be engaging and real in a manner that somewhat surprises. There are some action sequences that are well shot, and a SWAT team that play the role of the bad guy humans to great effect.
Sure, there are sub-titles, but you would hardly notice them - and they cointribute to the story at appropriate junctures.
This deserves to be seen by more people - and the underlying message of human frailty, injustice, discrimination - but ultimate goodness and hope is one that needs to be heard and appreciated.

Review published on the 31 December 2009 20:57

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