District 9

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: August 28, 2009

DVD Release Date: TBD

Plot 411: When a spacecraft stalls in the skies above Johannesburg and alien refugees become residents of District 9, the tension between humans and aliens escalates into a worldwide affair.

Review: This was an interesting socio-political movie hiding within the genres of sci-fi, action/adventure and faux-documentary. The alien slum of District 9 is faced with many problems, such as illegal cross-species prostitution and arms dealing. Because of this and public outcry to separate the aliens from humans, an effort to relocate them to a new facility, District 10, is underway. However, the government must provide a 24-hour notice of eviction to each and every alien. When Wikus, head of the relocation operation, confiscates a metal cylinder, it squirts a black liquid into his face and he slowly begins to mutate. Now he must work with the "prawns," as they are known in a derogatory way, to see if he can reverse the process. The blatant racism and prejudiced attitudes of the humans toward the aliens is pretty despicable. Fear of this unknown population's customs, practices and motives serve to heighten the bias against them. In addition to the government's mandatory isolation of this gruop, they attempt to seize all alien weaponry from them out of fear and a greed for power that they cannot even utilize. The alien machines will not work with human DNA, however, the goverment confiscates it all to keep the population under their control. Humans also take advantage of the aliens by providing food to them at inflated prices. If this is not a metaphor for Westernized society, I don't know what is.

Watch It: For an interesting look at what the "civilized" world does to "underprivileged" populations in the name of "aid."

Skip It: If you're looking for a straight action/sci fi movie. It takes a while for it to get going.