Every South African that's in the know (of course, there are many that are not), is very keen to see the new South African film District 9. This sci-fi film is an allegory on the apartheid segregation. The name "District 9" is most likely a play on District Six, the iconic landmark in South Africa, that have become a symbol for human rights violation. The "For Humans Only" on the second poster above, is, of course, a reference to the "For Whites Only" signs that was signature of the aprtheid-era. The timing of this film is also very apt with recent cases of xenophobia still fresh in the South African psyche. I have a suspicion that this movie will become a film of choice for film-study classes in South Africa.Unfortunately it does not seem that the movie will be showing in Korea, which is just short of a tragedy for me, who have been looking forward to seeing it for some time now. It released in the USA on August 14 and will start showing in South Africa on August 28. I cannot believe it's not showing here. Korea often shows major foreign (apart from Hollywood) films. For instance it showed Death of a President (2006), the mockumentary about the assassination of Pres. George W Bush; a British film that had only a limited screening in the USA.
From Channel 24, here is a list of "10 best things about District 9."
1. Americans will finally know where Johannesburg is.
2. It's the first local movie that has serious hope of getting an Oscar, not because it's "foreign", but because people really think it's the best movie of the year.
3. It was made for $30 million, and it made $37 million in its first weekend alone, topping the US box office.
4. That District 9 spaceship solves the burning issue of what we're going to do with used 2010 World Cup Soccer stadiums... if we can just figure out how to get them to float upside down.
5. It wasn't made by Leon Schuster.
6. It doesn't star Colin Moss, the schmodel-chick from FHM with the hot sister, or any of the other overly recycled actor "in-crowd" we're all so sick of seeing onscreen.
7. The South Africans in it sound South African, not German, Dutch, French or American.
8. The Van Der Merwe joke has now gone international, possibly galactical.
9. Thanks to lead actor Sharlto Copley, the sexy South African accent will finally get the international recognition it deserves (Arnold Vosloo set us back by at least 10 years).
10. They're already talking about a sequel. Who said crime didn't pay?
Trailer:
Of course I haven't seen the film yet, but what I read about it reminds me of another old Afrikaans movie - Die Groen Faktor. In it people mysteriously started to turn green, which raised the question of whether the green people should be classified as white or black (remember, this was still in the apartheidsera).
ReplyDeleteI remember Die Groen Faktor. Or at least, I remember taking note of it, although I never actually saw it. Would love to see it now. I wonder if it is still available somewhere.
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