If there’s such a genre as “dystopia,” it’s one of my personal favorites.  I think that’s because dystopic films are usually only slightly removed from the world I live in, and I love being transported to another place that is so recognizable and real.

Dystopic films always beg a significant suspension of disbelief.  In V for Vendetta, you have to believe England allowed this monarch to take over.  In Children of Men, you have to believe humans have become infertile.  And in District 9, you have to believe that aliens came to earth twenty years ago and have been restricted in Johannesburg ever since.  The truest, purest form of a well-done dystopia is that once that imaginary circumstance is accepted by the audience, no further suspension is required:  the laws of physics still apply, humans are still human, capitalism is still greedy.

What flaws District 9 has are based in a necessity to extend your suspension of disbelief a step further.  These demands of the audience’s attention become a distraction, especially in retrospect, and can really spoil the movie if you pay them too much heed.  But if you just swallow them and go along for the ride, it is one hell of a good time - and pretty unique. 

The film’s first act is told as though the film is a documentary, and the audience watching footage about some series of events in recent history that are being made into a film.  Were it not for Cloverfield, this could be called truly groundbreaking.  Still, this style is very different from Cloverfield; the camera of this documentary is not operated by a character within the story, nor is the image quality intended to be a cheap hand-held device.

By the time the film reaches the second act, the documentary style has vanished.  The viewer is now omniscient.  I didn’t notice at the time, though, because I was so fascinated by the world being created that all I wanted to know was “what comes next?”   In the final moments of the film, the documentary-style returns, thus drawing attention to the long abandonment of the gimmick.  I wish writer/director Neill Blomkamp would have chosen one or the other.

Technically, the film is downright brilliant.  From the tight camera work to solid performances, to the stellar artistry of the computer effects team that animates the most dimensional, real aliens ever seen on film (never before has a digital, non-human character come to screen with such life and ability to inspire empathy in an audience), every collaborator is at the top of their game.

In the end, District 9 is a sensationalized social criticism that touches on race, discrimination, and a comment on both apartheid and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  It’s entertaining to boot, and has some great laughs.  Just don’t think too hard about that black liquid, or you could wind up ruining the experience for yourself...