That’s right, District 9 is such a phenomenon that it gets two features dedicated to it. In our etc… feature, however, we do not so much talk about the movie directly, but rather what happened and observations made due to the movie.
I posted this on twitter earlier today:
I had the strange experience of seeing District 9 on a Sunday afternoon with a theater 3/4 empty and otherwise mostly attended by movie patrons over the age of 55. For the record, I’m 35. My wife has been sick all weekend and though she didn’t feel well enough to go to a movie Sunday, she felt well enough for me to leave for a little while. Being solo gave me the opportunity to loiter around as the movie let out and eavesdrop on those exiting and what they had to say about the film.
It’s strange. I know the seemingly universal appeal of the movie has been a big story this weekend. However the group in the theater at the same time as I for some reason skewed considerably older than typical for this type of movie. And their reactions were accordingly divergent:
“Do you think the aliens were supposed to represent black people?” – older middle aged white woman
“I think that movie was some kind of democratic propaganda.” – white elderly lady
“I think that was bullshit.”
“It’s not what I expected. I wonder if I can get a refund?” – two white elderly men
“They were trying to make us feel bad like Obama would or something. But they only have those kind of problems in Bosnia and, like, Europe. I don’t think people over here are going to like this.” – middle aged white lady to elderly lady.
The last thing I ever want to do on this blog is get into a hate-filled political tinged discussion, but what do you think drew out these comments? I enjoyed the film and felt the allegory of how humans treated aliens being like how humans treat each other was not at all disguised, but nor was it blatantly exploited. And, more than anything, I think it is rather obvious that humans have a long history of treating other humans in hateful ways. One can compare it to Native Americans, Nazi Germany, Bosnia Refugees, Haiti, and many others. But it is ultimately just a commentary on established history. I don’t feel it is editorial in the slightest.
The folks uncomfortable with what the film made them feel? Yeah, maybe one should examine that feeling.
THE TRAILERS
Before District 9
Green Band Legion: Ehhh.. we’ll see.
Green band Jennifer’s Body: Looked good, but as much as I loved Juno, my pulse does not jump for this movie.
Green Band: Zombieland: I’ve been looking forward to this movie forever because, yes, it looks like good fun, but also because it spawned the best news story of the year where Woody Harrelson got into an altercation with a TMZ photographer and, later when questioned, blamed his aggressiveness on still being in character from a Zombieland shoot and mistaking the photographer for a zombie. CLASSIC.
Green Band Shutter Island: I love Dennis Lehane books. I love the books that have been made into movies – Mystic River and the excellent Ben Afflack directed Gone Baby Gone. My favorite Lehane novel is Shutter Island which also happens to be the next Scorsese/DiCaprio project. Yeah, I’m just a little excited. Maybe even more so because I’ve read the book and am looking forward to the anvil that’s gonna hit you suckers that haven’t.
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- [DVD Bonus] District 9
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- [Behind the Scenes] Jet Li’s “It’s Love” (2011)
- Cinematic Blues – 6/15/2010
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If you went on a sunday around 3 or 4 pm you get the seniors! Never fails! I still haven’t made up my mind if I should see this film, but I do like to explore my feelings…so maybe I will go!
Between this and Moon – I was also very pleased with both – it has actually been a pretty good year for somewhat unusual science fiction movies. And there's potentially more goodness to come – both 9 and Avatar look promising.
I used to go solo all the time to movies when I was younger, but I guess I never noticed. This time I first noticed when going to the bathroom right before the lights went down. I was not planning on eavesdropping, but I heard the “indian” comment first and was intrigued.
I think the movie is very good. I don’t quite get the extreme gushing that it has garnered. It is very good, worth seeing, and I’d recommend it as one of the best movies of the year and one of the best sci-fi. However, just this year MOON was a better movie and in recent years I may have liked Danny Boyle’s SUNSHINE better as well.
If you’ve ever read classic sci-fi that dealt with social issues – like Ray Bradbury – then that is the type of thinking this movie will spur. It’s not heavy or heavy handed though. Mostly just fun.
who doesn’t love a good classic sci-fi read!? That’s the real question…..I’m sold!
Totally don’t know if you’re mocking or serious. Sublime either way.
Or maybe they went to be entertained by an alien action movie and instead felt like they were being preached at. I certainly have no interest in watching liberal message films if I want to catch a flick on Sunday afternoon. Once I’ve spent the morning in church, that’s just about a full quota of sermonizing for the day.
I swear it really was not like that. The director was was S. Africa and the apartheid inspired the idea, but in exactly the same way as Bradbury or Heinlen were inspired. The movie may not have worked 100% of the time, but it was not preachy. No more than say… GLADIATOR anyway.