Like Alive in Joburg, the short film on which the feature film is based, the setting of District 9 is inspired by historical events during the apartheid era, particularly alluding to District Six, an inner-city residential area in Cape Town, declared a "whites only" area by the government in 1966, with 60,000 people forcibly removed to Cape Flats, 25 km away. The film also refers to contemporary evictions and forced removals to suburban ghettos in post-apartheid South Africa, as well as the resistance of its residents. This includes the high-profile attempted forced removal of the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Cape Town to temporary relocation areas in Delft, plus evictions in the shack settlement Chiawelo, where the film was actually shot. Blikkiesdorp, a temporary relocation area in Cape Town, has also been compared with the District 9 camp, earning a front-page spread in the Daily Voice.
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District 9 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Different stars
- 1 Clinton ShorterDistrict 9 6:28
- 2 Clinton ShorterI Want That Arm 2:13
- 3 Clinton ShorterShe Calls 1:35
- 4 Clinton ShorterExosuit 3:16
- 5 Clinton ShorterHarvesting Material 1:46
- 6 Clinton ShorterHeading Home 1:15
- 7 Clinton ShorterA Lot of Secrets 2:28
- 8 Clinton ShorterBack to D9 1:46
- 9 Clinton ShorterWikus Is Still Running 2:57
- 10 Clinton ShorterGet Him Talking 2:06
- 11 Clinton ShorterPrawnkus 4:00
District 9
(2009)17
Country | |
Runtime | 1 hr 52 min |
Budget | $30 000 000 |
Premiere: World | $210 888 950 August 13, 2009 |
USA | $115 646 235 |
Other countries | $95 242 715 |
Box Office – Budget | $180 888 950 |
Premiere: USA | $115 646 235 August 14, 2009 |
first day | $14 163 902 |
first weekend | $37 354 308 |
rollout | 140 days |
Digital: World | May 31, 2017 |
Parental Advisory | Frightening & Intense Scenes, Profanity, Violence & Gore, ... |
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Production Companies | |
Description
Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.Сast and Crew
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Neill Blomkamp — Top Rated Movies
Critique: 43
Neill Blomkamp’s visceral and thumping debut presents a fascinating and effective vision of the future, and of humanity itself.
This baby has the stuff to end the movie summer on a note of dazzle and distinction.
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Copley’s wild-eyed performance as the luckless Wikus has a lot going for it. The fact that he’s so ridiculous – and so dogged...
The backstory beats the hell out of the present-tense plot, a routine affair in which a well-meaning doofus working for the Man is infected with&nb...
District 9 has too many gory vaporizations to qualify as a serious statement on race relations, but it does outclank Transformers: Reveng...
Intense, graphically novelistic (though it’s an original story) and just funny enough to keep you thoroughly entertained, even while the subt...
Every now and then, a film comes along that both defies and compels description.
Movie lightning has struck here, big time. Because if this isn’t what an instant sci-fi classic looks like – it’ll do until the ne...
The movie falls into the same uneasy category as Eight Legged Freaks: too tongue-in-cheek to be thrilling, not funny enough to be a comedy.
It’s a fascinating hybrid of a film, an anti-Hollywood movie which incorporates a great deal of contemporary big-budget elements … but w...
An entertaining, technically superb if faintly unsatisfying futuristic thriller.
It’s an outsider blockbuster, a juicy, bravura piece of moviemaking pulp, and its hellacious style almost – but not quite – disguis...
A thundering blitzkrieg of seat-rattling entertainment with a sociopolitical message; a cerebral sci-fi and apartheid allegory that is as heav...
Far from your average monster debauchery or invasion extravaganza, District 9 operates as an allegory for apartheid, xenophobia, corporat...
Myriad obvious ancestors prevent the film from feeling as revolutionary as some have claimed, though there’s nonetheless vitality to Blomkamp...
Fiendishly plotted and with awesomely kinetic (and outrageously bloody) action scenes, Blomkamp announces himself in a major way, without lett...
For science-fiction fans looking for a bit more brainpower than Transformers has to offer, District 9 points the way toward redemption fo...
I, for one, hope the inhabitants of Earth never encounter visitors from another planet because the reality of how we might interact with them could...
In the midst of it all you almost take for granted the carefully rendered details of the setting, the tightness of the editing and the inventivenes...
It’s a brashly confident debut, full of sharp, inventive detail (the prawns are crazy for cat food) and rooted in a couple of Big I...
District 9 does a lot of things right, including giving us aliens to remind us not everyone who comes in a spaceship need be angelic...
As an allegory of racial conflict and mass immigration, District 9 never really goes anywhere: The appealing premise fades into the backg...
District 9 is a South African sci-fi B-movie that punches well above its weight even as it falls back on inspiration from major-league pr...
The wonder is that despite its obvious roots, District 9 feels staggeringly original.
A great example of how fresh science fiction can be when it’s not just handed over to the special effects team and then the marketing divisio...
In a good summer, there’s usually a movie that will come out of nowhere and completely wow us. This is a good summer, and that movi...
District 9 is the most exciting science fiction movie to come along in ages; definitely the most thrilling film of the summer; and quite...
Director Neill Blomkamp expertly marshals the action, and although the climactic exchanges settle into familiar territory, he provokes genuine mora...
I don’t know guys, at the end of the day it’s aliens and hard for me to take this seriously.
This film has the enervating quality of a wet Tuesday in the arcade.
District 9 is a wrenching, riveting, occasionally violent, often heartbreaking, and, above all, socially conscious science-fiction film f...
You don’t feel bamboozled, fooled, or patronized by District 9, as you did by most of the summer blockbusters. You feel winded, shaken, and s...
What is absolutely impressive are the visual effects: the hordes of aliens, the mother ship, the seamless blending of the real with the fantastic.
[The "popcorn" egg-burning scene] in a way represents the whole film: There’s popcorn appeal for casual viewers, but something more vita...
What the sci-fi action flick District 9 lacks in famous faces it makes up for with sheer imagination.
When District 9 works, it’s an explosive and exciting sci-fi that heralds the arrival of a major new talent.
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It’s a grimy, consistently surprising and fundamentally human-centric science-fiction yarn, reminiscent of the dystopian, semi-realistic...
In a summer where toy robots and action heroes have rocked the box office and killed brain cells, it’s nice to see a movie where some se...
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Watched
Yes, the second time, many years later, I did much better, although I won’t change my rating. It’s almost a parable, not just a movie. It just reveals a bunch of social and moral problems, and in what a cool package. Translated to English
Watched
Perhaps the only time I watched a film in the cinema and almost wet my pants – I really didn’t want to leave the theater even for a few minutes, because I was terribly interested in what would happen next. South Africa adds a special flavor, where Neill Blomkamp himself is from. Translated to English
Watched
"District No. 9" is one of those films that is outwardly unpretentious, but has a great semantic charge, and therefore will take a long time to re-watch. But this is my opinion about the film, I do not impose it on anyone. I rate it a solid nine. Like. I recommend! Translated to English
Watched
An excellent film, I watched it many times and even shed tears at certain moments, in my opinion, now science fiction films lack soul and unexpected plot twists, everything is initially readable and not interesting by default, but here the plot is catchy and brings you to tears Translated to English
Watched
Acute social science fiction + mockumentary + atmospheric locations of South Africa – a very unusual symbiosis that makes the film stand out greatly. The final action part just looks a bit boring against the backdrop of the eye-catching interaction between Wikus and the aliens with a light comedic touch. Translated to English
Watched
A film with a wonderful, captivating start in pseudo-doc style, gradually losing enthusiasm towards the end, but holding its own until the end. An original story and implementation, the events of which you watch with interest, and how many social media. and moral issues. The characters are so alive Translated to English
Watched
It was cool. Very high quality and interesting fiction. I liked it, even though I’m not a fan of this genre. Translated to English
Watched
A very cool fantasy that really touches the soul with a powerful drama. The production is unconventional and interesting, the plot keeps you in suspense. The hero’s hopelessness is shown very coolly, it almost brings you to tears. The film is about how people abandoned a person in trouble, and strangers helped and accepted him as one of their own Translated to English
Watched
An acute social fantasy filmed for pennies. It turned out very realistic, in my opinion. Despite the small budget, the graphics here are good, especially for its age. There is not a single positive character in the film, but you still worry about the main character, no matter how much of an ass he is. Translated to English
Watched
probably if we met with aliens, it would be such a contact. something fantastic, but realistic to tears. an interesting movie Translated to English
Watched
I love the tagline of this movie: "They don’t belong here." Just a question: To whom? High-quality science fiction with mockumentary elements, touching on pressing social issues. There is something to complain about, but even despite the blunders, the film is stylish, with a cool message and cool implementation. Translated to English
Watched
Having re-watched this film a long time ago, this time it resonated with me a little more. Comedy and a certain delirium at the beginning develops into something serious, in some places even dramatic. The special shooting style also adds +1 to the uniqueness of this alien film Translated to English
Watched
The idea and meaning are very cool. I would have staged more, but the directing is frankly "not my thing." But the film is worthwhile. Translated to English
Watched
Rewatched it 10 years later. I’ll raise the rating. Still looks good: original idea, worthy execution. Translated to English
Watched
The most straightforward and oaky metaphor can be forgiven for the fact that it is: fun, dynamic, body horror. Plus, probably the most successful and appropriate documentary stylization that I have ever seen. Translated to English