District 9 [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Peter Jackson for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees stuck in contemporary South Africa. It's been 28 years since the aliens made first contact, but there was never any attack from the skies, nor any profound technological revelation capable of advancing our society. Instead, the aliens were treated as refugees. They were the last of their kind, and in order to accommodate them, the government of South Africa set up a makeshift home in District 9 as politicians and world leaders debated how to handle the situation. As the humans begin to grow wary of the unwelcome intruders, a private company called Multi-National United (MNU) is assigned the task of controlling the aliens. But MNU is less interested in the aliens' welfare than attempting to understand how their weaponry works. Should they manage to make that breakthrough, they will receive tremendous profits to fund their research. Unfortunately, the highly advanced weaponry requires alien DNA in order to be activated. When MNU field operative Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is exposed to biotechnology that causes his DNA to mutate, the tensions between the aliens and the humans intensifies. Wikus is the key to unlocking the alien's technology, and he quickly becomes the most wanted man on the planet. Ostracized and isolated, Wikus retreats to District 9 in a desperate bid to shake his dogged pursuers. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Features:
  • Deleted scenes
  • Director's commentary
  • The alien agenda: filmmaker's log-three-part documentary
  • Metamorphosis: the transformation of wikus
  • Innovation: acting and improvisation
  • Conception and design: creating the world of District 9
  • Alien generation: visual effects

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay - 2009 (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 2009 (Julian Clarke)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 2009 (Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham)
•     Nominated Best Visual Effects - 2009 (Robert Habros, Peter Muyzers, Daniel Kaufman, Matt Aitken)

• American Cinema Editors Guild

•     Nominated Best Edited Feature - Drama - 2009 (Julian Clarke)

• Art Directors Guild

•     Nominated Best Art Direction in a Fantasy Film - 2009

• Austin Film Critics

•     Won Best First Film - 2009 (Neill Blomkamp)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 2009

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 2009 (Trent Opaloch)
•     Nominated Best Director - 2009 (Neill Blomkamp)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 2009 (Julian Clarke)
•     Nominated Best Production Design - 2009 (Guy Poltgieter, Phillip Ivey)
•     Nominated Best Sound - 2009

• Chicago Film Critics Association

•     Won Most Promising Filmmaker - 2009 (Neill Blomkamp)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Screenplay - 2009 (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell)

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Independent Film - 2009

• Producers Guild of America

•     Nominated Producer of the Year - 2009 (Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Sharlto Copley - Wikus Van de Merwe
       Jason Cope - Grey Bradnam/UKNR Chief Correspondent
       David James - Koobus Venter
       Vanessa Haywood - Tania Van de Merwe
       Mandla Gaduka - Fundiswa Mhlanga
       Kenneth Nkosi - Thomas
       Eugene Khumbanyiwa - Obesandjo
       Louis Minnaar - Piet Smit
       William Allen Young - Dirk Michaels
       Nathalie Boltt - Sarah Livingstone - Sociologist
       Sylvaine Strike - Dr. Katrina McKenzie
       Elizabeth Mkandawie - Interviewee
       John Sumner - Les Feldman - MIL Engineer
       Greg Melvill - Smith - Interviewer
       Nick Blake - Francois Moraneu - CIV Engineer Team
       Jed Brophy - James Hope - Police Officer
       Marian Hooman - Sandra Van de Merwe
       Vittorio Leonardi - Michael Blomstein - MNU Alien Civil Affairs
       Johan van Schoor - Nicolas Van de Merwe
       Stella Steenkamp - Phyllis Sinderson - MNU Alien Relations
       Mampho Brescia - Reporter
       Tim Gordon - Clive Henderson - Entomologist
       Morne Erasmus - MNU Medic
       Anthony Bishop - Paramedic
       David Clatworthy - Doctor
       Mike Huff - Doctor
       Anthony Fridjhon - MNU Executive
       Jason Cope - Christopher Johnson
       Hlengiwe Madlala - Sangoma
       Siyabonga Radebe - Obesandjo's Lieutenant
       Melt Sieberhagen - Anton Grobler
       Andre Odendaal - Mike Van Kerland
       Jonathan Taylor - MNU Doctor
       John Ellis - MNU Medical Scientest
       Louise Saint Claire - MNU Medical Scientist
       Alan Glauber - MNU Operating Room Doctor
       Nicolas Herbstein - MNU Biolab Technician
       Norman Anstey - MNU Lead Medical Technician
       Nick Boraine - Craig Weldon
       Robert Hobbs - Ross Pienaar
       Sibulele Gcilitshana - U Gunters Woman
       Mahendra Raghunath - SABC Anchor Person
       Phillip Mathebula - Meat Stall Seller

• Director:

  Neill Blomkamp

• Producer:

  Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham

• Screenwriter:

  Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

• Cinematographer:

  Trent Opaloch

• Composer (Music Score):

  Clinton Shorter

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Michelle Belcher

• Editor:

  Julian Clarke

• Production Designer:

  Philip Ivey, Dianna Cilliers

• Art Director:

  Emelia Weavind, Mike Berg

• Co-producer:

  Philippa Boyens

• Executive Producer:

  Ken Kamins, Bill Block, Paul Hanson, Elliot Ferwerda

• Casting:

  Denton Douglas

• Visual Effects:

  Weta Digital

• Creature Effects:

  Weta Workshop Ltd.

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Grant Hulley

• Visual Effects:

  Zoic Studios, Image Engine, The Embassy Visual Effects

REVIEW:

• Every once in a great while -- perhaps only a handful of times each decade -- that rare film comes completely out of left field to let us know that there are still some original ideas out there, and that cinema can still be fresh and exciting. District 9 is just such a film.
  
  Perhaps the most original sci-fi feature to come along since the turn of the millennium, it's also one of the very best in recent memory. Compelling, captivating, occasionally hilarious, and refreshingly unpredictable thanks to a smartly structured script that builds impressive momentum, District 9 surprises at every turn while holding a mirror to society in a way that will likely find the film ranking favorably amongst the best of the genre. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that director Neill Blomkamp's much-touted Halo project ultimately stalled out, because while he may well have been capable of beating the odds and delivering a video game adaptation that wasn't a total disaster, what we get instead is a complex yet compact sci-fi romp that's more than worthy of all the advance buzz. It's the type of potential genre classic that some moviegoers approach cautiously for fear of getting burned by the hype machine, but which ultimately exceeds those tempered, cynical expectations through sheer innovation and solid storytelling.
  
  It's been 28 years since an enormous alien spacecraft came to a standstill over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. After cutting their way into the ship to find a million malnourished extraterrestrials, authorities ushered them down to terra firma and set them up in District 9, a makeshift refugee camp that quickly became a slum, replete with crime, vice, and overcrowding. The locals want the aliens gone, and a private firm called MNU (Multi-National United) has been assigned the task of evicting them to what is, essentially, a concentration camp. Heading up this mission is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a bumbling bureaucrat who basically serves as a figurehead for MNU -- which is more concerned with harnessing the visitors' highly advanced technology (read: weaponry) than looking out for their well-being. While evicting the aliens (derogatorily referred to as "prawns" due to their resemblance to the oceanic bottom-feeders), Wikus is inadvertently exposed to their biotechnology, prompting a strange metamorphosis that makes him the most wanted man on the planet.
  
  Historically, science fiction has been the genre of choice for socially conscious tales that put our struggles into perspective through fantastical storytelling; The Day the Earth Stood Still did it with nuclear weapons, Planet of the Apes did it with race relations, and now District 9 does it with the topic of refugees. These are the kinds of films born of a storyteller's concern for humanity, and because of that, they resonate. Being from South Africa, director/co-writer Blomkamp no doubt grew up with a keen social perception of the refugee's plight (a large portion of the nation's informal population is comprised of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and other poorer neighboring countries) and the issues that can arise due to xenophobia. So while District 9's setting alone sets it apart from the vast majority of sci-fi films, it's also of crucial importance to understanding the film's not-so-subtle subtext about allowing our fears to govern our humanity. But you don't have to be from South Africa to appreciate the dangers of this; just ask any American whose life was uprooted by Hurricane Katrina or any Afghan whose home was destroyed during the War on Terror. As the world gets smaller, our obligations toward our fellow man grow, but what happens when the system gets strained, and personal preservation supersedes civil rationality? That's when things start to turn ugly, and that's where we find ourselves at the beginning of District 9 -- where the locals just want the refugees gone, and don't particularly care where they're shipped off to.
  
  But when these kind of ruminations start to get too heavy, it's the filmmaker's job to dress them up so we're entertained by the story while getting insight into the human condition. As Mary Poppins once sang, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." District 9 does have some pretty potent medicine, but just when things start to get grim, Blomkamp smartly satisfies our sweet tooth by shifting gears to sci-fi action mode with effortless efficiency. We're drawn into District 9's story by its deeply humanitarian message -- delivered with disarming humor and a knowing wink -- and then blown out of our seats by the kind of outrageous, high-tech action that gets movie message boards buzzing with wild speculation. Not only that, but it does so with a stylistic flair that seamlessly fuses the subjective style of cinema made popular by The Blair Witch Project with the kind of traditional narrative that is Hollywood's bread and butter. The faux news footage that opens District 9 plays with our perception, making the improbable not only possible -- as Rod Serling might say -- but entirely believable through convincing state-of-the-art special effects and keen humanistic insight. After that, the thrill lies in discovering where the story goes. And while that aspect of District 9 may be a bit more traditional, Blomkamp and screenwriting partner Terri Tatchell still manage to keep the thrills coming by humanizing the aliens as the stakes get higher.
  
  By the end of District 9, we've seen our world irrevocably changed, and have been tantalized by the possibility that the real story is only beginning. In most instances this would feel like a shameless attempt at manufacturing a franchise, but given the situations the characters have been put through and the changes they've endured, it comes off as genuine here. Sure Blomkamp could botch the deal by going all George Lucas and dumbing things down to the point where the magic slips away, but for now it feels safe to say his vision is still uncompromised, and his dedication to simply telling good stories paramount. The energy in the theater following District 9 is likely the same kind of charge that surged through moviegoers after seeing Star Wars for the first time back in 1977. So while only time will tell whether Blomkamp is the radical sci-fi visionary he appears to be, if things don't work out down the road he'll still be considered one hell of a one-hit wonder. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi