Four Thumbs Up for District 9

Having lived in South Africa twice, both times before Apartheid was officially abolished, seeing District 9 — the movie, was incredible, no unbelieveable, no so damn authentic, that you find yourself wanting to see it again to catch all the parallels.

Brilliantly captured, the personalities bring you back twenty years, no ten years, no two years……it sends shivers through your bones. To top it off, Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson make sure you experience the category its in: Sci-Fi.

The main character is bureaucratic civil servant Wikus van de Merwe, who is “promoted” to a role that takes him from shack to shack to evict and move an alien species stranded on Earth from one refugee camp to another in Johannesburg. Sound familiar? It’s shot in Soweto and there’s enough in the action shots to bring you back to the horrifying memories of the 70s.

It continues to unfold as van de Merwe transforms. More and more onions are peeled back and then just when you think you know how the movie ends, there’s another twist. SEE THE MOVIE. Four thumbs up.