District 9 is a Powerful and Disturbing Movie with a Message

Every not-so-often comes a movie that is disturbing and holds such a powerful message that it will definitely leave an impression on you. Whether you enjoyed it or not, it will certainly cling onto you. District 9 is original, realistic, and powerful and it definitely delivers the message.



District 9 tells the story of what happened when a malnourished and weakened alien race is stranded on Earth. Our people give them a place to stay, yet, like any normal human, we fear and hate them. Thus ‘racism’ is the main subject even after two decades since the aliens landed.


As the story goes, Wikus, an MNU (Multi-National United)agent, is sent to evict these ‘prawns’ to a new place – or rather, a concentration camp – where they can no longer make human feel uneasy. But during the eviction notification process, conflicts arise and Wikus is accidently exposed to a biofuel that slowly turns him into the ‘prawns’. He then experiences what it feels like to be surrounded by people that hate him.

The movie is way more realistic that – in its own term.

It’s told in the form of a documentary, using snippets of ‘real and raw’ footage of when the alien first came, interviews with people, and also hand-held and even security camera all put together into one beautiful piece of work. The second half however is shown in a clean and edited movie picture. It is so well done that you won’t even notice the shift in the story-telling process.

The acting are top-notch, even Oscar-worthy I might add, and not to mention that the movie is made by a first-time big-budget movie director with a cast of unknowns.

But enough of that.

What I love the most about the movie is that the ‘prawns’ are depicted not as aliens but as a minority race living on Earth. People hate them. We run tests of them. Abuse and even kill them. Racism and intolerance is a bad thing. And through Wikus we will feel how it’s like to be hated. For example, in one powerful scene, Wikus is forced to kill a prawn. He hesitates and was electrocuted.

I won’t say any more. You just have to see it for yourself and really catch that message it’s trying to deliver.