Guest Author - Terry L Kosse
District 9 – Sharlto Copley Very few movies make my jaw drop and catch me by complete surprise, but this one did just that. I guess it helped that I had no clue what the movie was going to be about, my daughter telling me it was science fiction I felt I had to see it.
A stranded Alien Species comes to Earth to find themselves at the mercy of the human race. Within twenty years they go from being housed and fed to living in what I would call an appalling dump known as District 9. Nick-named “prawns” for their ugliness, these intelligent although confused creatures are forced to endure the hardships we put upon them.
Wikus Van De Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley, is an unimportant man working for the MNU and is given the task of evicting the Alien Species to more unfortunate living conditions by his Father-in-Law. Wanting to make his wife proud of him, Wikus sets out to make an example of the Prawns only to be made a fool of himself while on camera.
Besides eviction Wikus also looks for unauthorized weapons and equipment the Prawns are not allowed to possess. While in one of the shacks he finds a tube of unknown value and proceeds to try and open it when he is sprayed in the face by the substance inside. Little does Wikus know but his troubles have just begun, not only for him but the Prawns as well.
Here are the few mistakes I found.
While in the hospital the Doctor removes the bandage from Wikus’ hand to inspect the burn he sustained while at District 9. As he takes off the cloth the Doctor finds that Wikus’ hand has mutated and seeing this Wikus becomes hysterical. The Doctor immediately places the oxygen on Wikus’ face and holds it in place while telling him to relax. It then shows Wikus with the oxygen mask fully placed around his head. The Doctor could not have placed it there while holding Wikus down using only one hand.
During the time that Wikus is running from the authorities he runs by an unsuspecting man and grabs his cell phone out of his hand. Wikus then proceeds to use this phone several times for more than a couple of days. I would think that the phone would have needed recharging before the end of his many conversations.
Even though this movie is purely fiction, I wonder how on target the writer was in telling this story. It saddens me to think that as a race we could use and abuse another species in such a way. Then again, looking at how Wikus is treated by his own government it shouldn’t surprise me in the least.
If gore and language doesn’t bother you maybe the horrendous environment will. Either way this movie is worth seeing even if it is just to give you food for thought.
