I'm not a fan of the sci-fi genre either in movies or books. I don't care much for films with a lot of CGI, the special effects which often overwhelm weak story lines. I can also live without action flicks with a lot of violence. So why did we go see District 9 on the weekend?
I heard and read lots of reviews saying this was a smart, thought-provoking, suspenseful movie. It is, and we both enjoyed it.
The District 9 of the title is essentially a detention camp for aliens who are rescued from a space ship which mysteriously ends up suspended over Johannesburg, South Africa. These intergalactic foreigners are saved from near starvation aboard the disabled craft, but their fate on Earth is hardly a "good news" story. They are considered a huge problem, creatures who are deemed intellectually inferior and nicknamed "prawns" a demeaning term that conjures up "kaffir" or worse to describe blacks.
I won't say anything further about the plot for your benefit, but it raises some important questions about how we relate to the supposed aliens of different kinds in our midst. Our suspicions about immigrants, those of other religions, those who just don't fit our sensibilities "alienate" us from others. It's so much easier to distance ourselves from those we dehumanize.
In the book of Exodus the people of Israel are warned "Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt." I'm fairly sure that these aliens did not arrive in a space craft, nor did they have tentacles. But the Good Samaritan may have taken care of a "prawn" as well.
2 comments:
Saw the movie... I am glad that I saw the production but I did not walk out from the theatre with the intended "entertained escape from reality". I rather came home with much to think about. It is a sad world when we let our fear of the unknown and our struggle for power over that which we do not understand govern our actions.
I am glad that the world's current "aliens" and the controlling delegates around the globe are often included in the prayers of the people on Sundays.
We are not to judge, we are to love one another and trust in God. How simple must it be?
I recently have become a fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Some of it I avoid, but I love the kind that is intelligently written and reflects on our own lives. This sounds like a movie I need to watch. Thanks for the suggestion.
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