District 9 (2009)

Since the year 2007, rumors began about a movie adaptation of the popular video game, "Halo". It soon became official that Peter Jackson would produce the film, and that a South African newcomer named Neill Blomkamp would be at the helm of the project. Despite not having experience in feature-length films, Blomkamp had already established himself as the most appropriate director for the movie after his "Landfall" trilogy of short films based on "Halo" gave him critical acclaim. Unfortunately, the "Halo" project couldn't be launched and the movie version of the popular video game collapsed during preproduction. However, producer Peter Jackson still wanted to give Blomkamp a chance, and decided to produce an adaptation of one of Blomkamp's earlier short films, the sci-fi mock documentary "Alive in Joburg" (a six minute short film about stranded aliens facing xenophobia). Expanding the themes and style of "Alive in Joburg", the end result was one of the most original science fiction films of the last years: "District 9".

In "District 9", a major event has changed the history of South Africa: in 1982, a large alien spaceship became stranded above the city of Johannesburg. Inside the spaceship was found a large group of members of an extraterrestrial species who are given asylum on Earth. Years go by and things in Johannesburg get complicated as the aliens enter the already convoluted social situation of the country. Ostrasized and hated (and derogatorily referred to as "prawns"), the aliens live in poverty and engage in criminal activities. After human protests, the aliens are confined to a government camp inside Johannesburg, called District 9, which despite massive police presence, soon turns into a slum. More than 20 years after the aliens' arrival, a private military corporation named Multinational United (MNU) takes the task of relocating the 1.8 million aliens to a new camp, District 10; and field operative Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is the man in charge of the mission. And literally, it'll be a mission that will change his life.

Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9" uses comedy and science fiction to explore themes such as xenophobia with a sharp and intelligent humor. Given its setting, it's obviously a commentary on the Apartheid era, the forced evictions and the segregation that was lived in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. "District 9" begins following the style of Blomkamp's original short film, "Alive in Joburg", as it opens as a documentary about the relocation of the aliens and the mysterious fate of Wikus van de Merwe. As the story unfolds it moves back and forth from the documentary to the actual events of the relocation, uncovering what exactly happened to Wikus van de Merwe during the mission. With the perfect mix of humor and intelligence, Blomkamp and Tatchell built up a story that transcends science fiction and becomes a powerful character study filled with interesting twists and surprisingly, a lot of heart. If there's anything to criticize, it probably would be that the film certainly lacks subtlety when it comes to showcase it's political message.

As written above, "District 9" moves from the documentary about the eviction, to the actual development of the events, so the film is presented in two different, yet complementary styles. The documentary side is given a very realist look, akin to Blomkamp's "Alive in Joburg", complete with footage from MNU's operation and interviews with those involved. The actual story of the film receives a more traditional treatment, yet Blomkamp keeps the realism by employing mainly a hand-held technique, very much on the "cinéma vérité" school of thought, as it's all done to transport the audience to the story, as if it was truly, news footage. It's certainly a risky decision, but Blomkamp makes it work with the instrumental aide of cinematographer Trent Opaloch, whom employs digital cinema to achieve this realism in a fantastical tale about extraterrestrials. Julian Clarke's work of editing is worthy of praise, as it keeps the movement from the documentary style to the action film at a quite dynamic and natural rhythm.

Acting through the film is quite good, with Sharlto Copley (whom produced and starred Blomkamp's "Alive in Joburg") delivering a terrific performance as Wikus, the model officer whom gets involved in the amazing events that take place during the eviction of District 9. Copley makes Wikus a very human character, and even when it's certainly difficult to like him initially (as Wikus is written as a flawed human being, not the typical hero), Copley's charm and presence truly makes it work. The way the character grows and is developed, while a tad clichéd, doesn't feel as forced as could had been. Another face from "Alive in Joburg", Jason Cope, appears not only as Grey Bradnam, but also as Christian, the alien. Cope's job as the extraterrestrial creature is noteworthy, as while the visual effects alone are already amazing, his performance is truly the icing of the cake and give the creature a heart. Finally, David James makes a great turn as Koobus Venter, the chief mercenary sent to hunt extraterrestrials at District 9. As the main villain, James is certainly extraordinary.

Perhaps "District 9"'s greatest asset is just how fresh it feels amidst most of the recent sci-fi films released by major studios. With a relatively low budget, Jackson and Blomkamp take the genre back to its roots and use it to offer insight about a particular situation of the human condition. While it has the subtlety of a hammer, "District 9"'s exploration of xenophobia and segregation in South Africa (and the world) makes for an interesting discussion; and the way Blomkamp employs comedy to make his statement is cleverly unusual and fun. In a way, a film like "District 9" (which has a political agenda, an anti-hero as main character, and a visual style that moves back and forth from documentary to action film) is not exactly an easy story to sell, and even less simple to make properly; but with creativity and talent, Neill Blomkamp and his team managed to create this little gem with a modest budget and without sacrificing its edge. Subtle or not, with an agenda or not, "District 9" exists entirely as its makers wanted it to be, and it's one hell of a ride, in terms of entertainment.

Fresh, clever and fun, "District 9" is a powerful masterpiece of science fiction that hopefully, will go on in history as one of the genre's first true gems of the 21st century. What Blomkamp and his crew achieved here is worthy of praise, as without a big budget, they have created a terrific work that certainly shows that science fiction can be more than typical space operas and merchandising gold mines, that it still can be used to deliver a message or to state something. Together with Duncan Jones' "Moon", and even Cameron's "Avatar" and Abrams' "Star Trek", Neill Blomkamp's "District 9" points to a resurgence of science fiction with a purpose, with a soul.

9/10
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10,000 BC (2008)

While hardly a filmmaker recognized for great artistry or for making cinema classics, German director Roland Emmerich is certainly someone who really knows how to make a blockbuster. Following the steps of his childhood idols, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Emmerich made himself a name as a master of visual effects-laden movies in his natal Germany, and later in the U.S. with films such as "Independence Day" (1996) and "Godzilla" (1998). After making a change of pace to make "The Patriot" in 2000, Emmerich returned to visual effects adventures with 2004's "The Day After Tomorrow" (a tale on the vein of classic disaster movies). Following the same path, Emmerich decided to make another adventure film and take as his new project an idea of his frequent collaborator, composer Harald Kloser: an epic movie set in the prehistoric era. Along Kloser, Emmerich developed the idea into "10,000 BC", a mix of fantasy and history on the vein of films such as "The Clan of the Cave Bear" (1986), or more appropriately, the books of Robert E. Howard.

"10,000 BC" narrates the story of the Yagahl, a tribe of hunters living in a remote mountain range. A young Yahahl hunter, D'Leh (Steven Strait), succeeds in killing a mammoth, winning with this the "White Spear" and the right to marry the love of his life, Evolet (Camilla Belle), a young woman with blue eyes who was found one day orphaned in an abandoned camp. But, since his victory was an accident, D'Leh doesn't feel worthy of this recognition. However, his courage will be put to the test when one night, a gang of horse riders (named by the tribe as the "Four Legged Demons") attack their camp, taking many of them, including Evolet, as slaves. To save them, D'Leh, his mentor Tic'Tic (Cliff Curtis) and his childhood rival Ka'Ren (Mo Zinal) decide to follow the horse riders to their destiny and rescue their people. A young kid, Baku (Nathanael Baring) also follows them against their wishes, decided to help them in their journey, but the trip will be difficult and dangerous, and will take the Yaghal hunters to discover lands beyond their imagination.

As written above, "10,000 BC" is the brainchild of director Emmerich and composer Harald Kloser, a story in which they attempt to bring to basics the hero's journey pattern as described by writer Joseph Campbell: a young man receives the call to adventure, which takes him away from his land to places where he'll have to learn a lot in order to change and succeed in his mission. The basic core of many heroic narratives, this outline serves Emmerich and Kloser as the backbone for their epic fantasy story. And the key word is "fantasy", because "10,000 BC" is anything but historically accurate. In it, the writers have decided to explore the myth of the hero at its most basic, using their own alternate version of history to present a tale of the expansion of agriculture and the creation of the pyramids, all with nods to Plato's Atlantis. While simple, it's really a neat idea, but unfortunately, the writers fail to bring all these ideas together in a coherent script, and while they aim for something deeper than the usual blockbuster fare, they end up with another shallow movie.

Now, director Roland Emmerich can be accused of many things, but setting up poor shows is not one of them, as in "10,000 BC" once again he demonstrates his vision to create spectacular scenes of fantasy for his alternate version of prehistory. Greatly influenced by the work of writer Robert E. Howard, Emmerich conceives a world in which shades of real prehistory form the basis for the vast array of fantastic tribes that inhabit this tale about the supposed dawn of civilization (hunters, warriors, Pygmies, and a fantasy proto-Egyptian culture). In all honesty, Emmerich makes quite a visually rich epic film, and at times he even manages to create thrilling sequences of action and adventure that help to cover up the screenplay's notorious problems. Unfortunately, this time his mastery with special effects seems to not had been on his side, as for a movie based mainly on the impression caused by its visual effects, "10,000 BC" features a mediocre work in this aspect. Also, Emmerich directing of his cast is pretty average, as he seems to prefer his camera to his actors.

As written above, the acting in the film is pretty uneven, but I don't mean it's entirely bad, what I mean is that the cast doesn't seem to be playing their characters on the same line as a team. For starters, a D'Leh, Steven Strait plays the the traditional unlikely hero who becomes a legend, but he acts too "modern" for the story. It wouldn't be bad if only Strait wasn't s bland as he is during most of the film, although this could be blamed to the writers. On the other hand, Cliff Curtis plays D'Leh's mentor Tic'Tic as if he was on a more serious film. I must say that Curtis does make a great job as Tic'Tic, but in contrast with Steven Strait, he feels out of place. If only the rest of the cast was on Curtis' level, the film would had been vastly improved. As Evolet, Camilla Belle is pretty bad, as other than looking impossibly beautiful on screen, her talent seems to be very limited, as she delivers her lines without real confidence. Still, Joel Virgel is probably the most balanced in the cast, as his performance as warrior Nakudu is always in tone with the rest of the film.

However, I think that such details about the characters are not entirely to blame on the actors, but on Emmerich's hand with them and of course, in the way the film was written. This last point is where a lot of the film's flaws fall, in my opinion, as it seems that two general ideas were colliding at the time of developing it: to make it a serious fantasy epic and to make it a simple adventure film (aiming to be a summer blockbuster). I'm not saying that both concepts are mutually exclusive, but I do feel that Emmerich and Kloser failed at reconciling both ideas in one screenplay. But still, while the plot has its flaws (starting from the film's bizarre geography), the concept is pretty interesting, what really damages it is the poor way the characters are conceived. Granted, it's supposed to be the hero's journey taken to basics, but even when the characters are supposed to be stereotypes, some work could be done with them to improve the screenplay. I won't even get into detail about its contrived ending, which definitely is another huge problem in it.

Personally, I must admit that I have a soft spot for Roland Emmerich's films, specially the ones he made in the U.S.. I found "Universal Soldier" (1992) and "Independence Day" (1996) to be good mindless fun, and I honestly consider "Stargate" (1994) to be a flawed masterpiece. I also liked "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004) more than what I probably should, and while "The Patriot" wasn't really my idea of a good film (far from it), actor Jason Isaacs really shone in that one. But despite that, I don't think that I'm biased when thinking that "10,000 BC" has been unfairly maligned and that it isn't as bad as the criticism it has received may indicate. Granted, it's far from the movie it could had been (and that missed potential is probably the film's greatest crime), but while it fails as a serious fantasy epic, I think it's not bad, but simply put, just mediocre.

5/10
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Dust Devil (1992)

In the early 90s, South African director Richard Stanley was a young director with a short but promising career directing music videos and documentaries. After finishing his first feature length film, the horror and sci-fi hybrid "Hardware" in 1990, Stanley started working on his dream project: a horror film very loosely based on the Nhadiep, a Namibian mythical serial killer. This project became a reality with the name of "Dust Devil" and was finally completed and released on 1992. Sadly, the film released wasn't exactly Stanley's film, as a series of problems with its production company (as well as with Miramax, its distributor) resulted in the complete mutilation of Stanley's "Dust Devil" and its subsequent failure. Fortunately, Stanley recovered his film and re-edited a version closer to his ideal, and finally, the legendary "Dust Devil: The Final Cut", became available in a way similar to the one its creator intended.

A serial killer (Robert John Burke) is on the loose across the enormous desert located on the border between South Africa and Namibia, and so far the police has been unable to locate the mysterious hitchhiker. Officer Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae) is determined to catch the killer, who the locals think is an incarnation of the Dust Devil, a shape-shifter who devours human souls. An skeptic, Mukurob will have to face not only the local superstitions, but also his country's racism and his own inner demons in his quest across the desert. In the meantime, Wendy Robinson (Chelsea Field) abandons her husband after a big fight and sets towards the desert looking for an escape from her life. However, what she finds on the road is the figure of the hitchhiker, as the Dust Devil has chosen her as his next victim.

Written by Stanley himself, "Dust Devil" is a film that walks the dangerous line between harsh realism and surreal fantasy, however, Stanley manages to keep the film together without sacrificing any of its elements or cheapening the plot with unnecessary silliness or comedy. True, the supernatural plays an important role in the film, but the way the characters are developed (there is not a hero in the traditional sense) is haunting and very believable. While at its core "Dust Devil" is about a ruthless serial killer on the loose, the added elements of folklore and magic do give the story a captivating feeling that makes it stand out among similar films, and that gives the film a soul and identity of its own.

The plot is very attractive and unusual, but what really makes "Dust Devil" a gem is the amazing way the director builds up the movie. With an outstanding cinematography (by Steven Chivers) that certainly owes a lot to the Western genre (as well as his own previous work at making documentaries), Richard Stanley captures the beauty of the Namibian desert and makes it another important character of his film. Along with the cinematography, Simon Boswell's brilliant original score is the other element that completes Stanley's haunting vision of the horror of the desert. Another important thing to point out is that "The Final Cut" version is probably the one that shows the better pace, as it's neither illogical and incomplete as the theatrical one, nor slightly overlong as the Director's Cut sounds. "The Final Cut" is probably Stanley's best "version" of the film.

The acting is overall very good, with Robert John Burke giving an exceptional job as the "Dust Devil" by being both attractive and frightening at the same time. One can easily understand why people picks the charming hitchhiker because Burke really makes him likable. Chelsea Field is also very good in what would be the "main" role despite being a really unsympathetic character. However, the film belongs to Zakes Mokae, who delivers a terrific performance (almost completely cut in Miramax's cut!) and essentially is the heart of the film. John Matshikiza appears in a small yet very important role, as well as being the Narrator of the film, both jobs are very good as he steals every scene he is in. Rufus Swart is really the only problem of the film, although that has probably more to do with the odd dubbing done by the Sound department of the film.

While this Final Cut of "Dust Devil" is near flawless and probably the best this film will ever be, there are some minor quibble found in the movie that stop it from being perfect. The biggest problem I found was the bad work of dubbing done by the sound department, as at times (specially at the beginning) it just doesn't feel right and it diminishes the impact of the cast's performances. It's easy to understand why "Dust Devil" received such a cold reception on its day, as much of the film's charm relays so on the mystic aspects of its plot that were cut by Miramax; and after watching "The Final Cut" (arguably the final Director's Cut) it becomes unthinkable to cut those elements out.

"Dust Devil", now in its "complete" version, is truly a remarkable horror film that successfully mixes graphic gory realism with a supernatural mythology. It's captivating cinematography and wonderful score are highly artistic elements that complete an overall brilliant film of great quality. I wouldn't say it's a must-have, but it's definitely a film that every horror fan should check out.

9/10

Buy "Dust Devil" (1992)