"District 9" -- this year's "V for Vendetta?"

[villager]

just back from seeing it, and it's every bit the trenchant surprise "V" was (since the latter actually stuck to the themes of the source material!)

In this case, "District 9," while being a terrifically done sci-fi thriller, is surprisingly political, too: Race and immigration issues, the privitization of the military (look for the Blackwater-ish bad guys), corporations driving government policy, etc...

It's all in there....

Will be interested to hear what other DUers think...

[aquart]

1. Thanks for the heads up.

[slampoet]

2. Haven't seen it but there is a great viral promotion that poses as a protest site for aliens

http://www.mnuspreadslies.com/

[LostInAnomie]

3. I said on here least week...

... that if it was done right, it could be a fantastic movie. Glad to hear it wasn't a let down.

[juno jones]

4. Just heard about it tonite

Will be looking for it, thanx!

[ContinentalOp]

5. Hmm, I was worried that the apartheid stuff coming from a South African director...

might be a little weird. But I guess not? But then if you liked V for Vendetta and though it was true to the source, I don't know if I trust your opinion! :P

[villager]

20. well, being named for a Dash Hammett character, I trust yours!

;-)

I thought "Vendetta" certainly stuck to its source material thematically, all the more welcome in those dark -- and not over yet -- "Bush years..."

[TheDebbieDee]

6. The commercials that I have seen for this film

remind me a lot of the movie and tv show called "Alien Nation". The tv show depicted how the "newcomers" struggled to deal with the cultural differences and racism expressed by the many of the humans surrounding them.

Do you remember that movie? And how does District 9 compare to "Alien Nation".

[villager]

25. I remember when "Alien Nation" was on...

(an actor friend of mine had a gig on the show, and one Halloween, convinced them to let him keep his make up on, when he went home. Needless to say, he had a great costume that night!)

...but I never saw any episodes...

I think it was a similar premise...

[Howzit]

7. WingNut Films

Seriously; the production company that made District 9 is called WingNut Films.

[hatrack]

18. Yeah, that's Peter Jackson's production company nt

.

[hfojvt]

8. okay, I thought you were talking about California's 9th District

or New York's or Pennsylvania's or Michigan's.

[ContinentalOp]

9. The fightin' 9th? -nt-

[hfojvt]

12. gotta be one somewhere

but I don't think we are too fond of lines like "People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people."

Not anymore.

[armyowalgreens]

10. I knew the first time I saw the trailer that it would be political.

The entire thing is a metaphor.

[davepc]

11. so is most good science fiction

[armyowalgreens]

13. I'm not sure if you could classify the message as political...

But 2001: A Space Odyssey, the greatest sci-fi of all time as far as I'm concerned, is a great example of how science fiction can carry very important underlying messages.

[Gabi Hayes]

14. wtf? THIS is the greatest SF of all time:

[villager]

15. It reminds me of a lot of early/mid-70's political sci-fi, like "Silent Running,"

"Soylent Green," etc...

[loyalkydem]

16. I was wondering

about this movie. Half to add it to my DVD list then

[DailyGrind51]

17. I plan to see it tomorrow, thanks for the review!

[Rebubula]

19. Looks good...

...but I have enough reality in my life. I go to movies and try not to over analyze the plot.

I am looking forward to this movie, but I have no desire to look for underlying plots.

[Mrs. Overall]

21. Seeing it this weekend--can't wait!

[and-justice-for-all]

22. "We just want to go home" says the intirigated and wrongly heald Alien..nt.

[CRF450]

23. Just got back from the seeing this flick, it was pretty good

Next big movie I'm looking forward to is James Cameron's upcoming movie called Avatar.

[villager]

24. that's gonna be a long wait! Anything in between...?

n/t

[Norrin Radd]

26. I've seen it twice. It's refreshing to see scifi that

isn't insubstantial fluff, for a change (also go see "Moon," if you haven't already).

Oh, and the "prawn" epithet in the movie refers to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parktown_prawn