District 9 is a debut film from Neill Blomkamp that deals with the results of an unexpected first contact with alien life forms. The film instantly plays off the standard science fiction choice between "friendly, helpful alien life" and "aggressive, warmongering alien life". These aliens arrive and offer no contact whatsoever. The story continues by detailing the relationship between alien and humanity along with internal human concerns. This is balanced by the personal trials of Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) who is caught amongst these struggles.
As mentioned in a previous post, much of science fiction seems to suffer from the problem of relying on science fiction details in lieu of competent story telling. It is very easy to distract a reader or film viewer with flashy imagery or pseudo scientific jargon. But this rarely works and the underlying plot, characterisation or language problems always remain. District 9 seems to have gotten the balance just right by engaging the audience with appealing characters and a strong plot through the medium of forward and unique science fiction.
I found the acting to be excellent, the style of cinematography highly appealing and the overall production sublime. But the most impressive element of this film relates back to the method of story telling. Refreshingly, Bloomkamp has joined the group of science fiction story tellers that do not feel the need to over-simplify or explain a situation. Plenty of questions are left unanswered by this film and not only is that perfectly ok, it's a great benefit to the film. Why spend huge swathes of time explaining a situation that does not need explanation?
Good writers allow the audience or readers to use their imagination to enhance the story and District 9 is a very good example of this pattern.
-The English Student
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