District 9

It is my personal opinion that the new film District 9 is a revolutionary film of our time because of how its filmed and its politics. The way in which district 9 is filmed is revolutionary because of its style. It is filmed in a documentary fashion and contains many actors who are unknown to the American public but yet still evoke emotion and the responses they want from the audience. Having no name actors allowed Blomkamp to focus most of the finances on the graphics and other visual aids. For instance, a main focus of the film are the aliens which Blomkamp wanted to make look insectile but bipedal as well. He did this so people would be able to relate to the aliens. Although the aliens look nothing like humans they still are two legged bipedal creaters that speak their own language, allowing humans to relate to them more so than say an animal. The documentary film style of District 9 lets the characters evolve and become more loveable. Like most critics the characer Wikus and the aliens arent the most lovable characters to begin with but the documentary style allows the characers to talk directly to the audience and really let them know what their thinking. This was done in order to create a connection between Wikus and the audience as well as allow the slow change of opinion about Wikus and the aliens throughout the film. The second reason why District 9 is a revolutionary film is because of its story and underlying political themes. The film was shot in Johannesburg, South Africa which has had a long history of racial tension. South Africa is also where Blomkamp is from making the underlying themes a bit more personal. Between 1948 and 1994 the National Party of South Africa implemented a "apartheid" or racial segregation. Some 60,000 residences were forced from their homes and moved to an area called district 6. The government segregated education, medical care, and other services providing blacks with services inferior to whites. Blacks were also denied citizenship and were not allowed to urbanize or move into white areas. Because Blomkamp was from this area he found it fitting to create a film about it. It began with his short film "Alive in Joburg" and after Blomkamp became more renouned he was able to make the story into an actual Hollywood movie. It has been a little while since a film has come out with so many underlying political themes and thats why Distict 9 is a revolutionary film. What I hope to do with this blog is to further research the film and political themes, explaning and theorizing on them.

Here is a link to his short film Alive in Joburg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3bN64ISyUA