daisyblahg

So, recently while recovering from a bout of food poisoning...

actually, let's talk about the food poisoning for a bit here. I'm not going into any of the sordid details, but it took 2 days for me to regain the ability to urinate, 3 days to be able to eat crackers, and 4 days to actually consume half a serving of food - total for a day!!! And the worst part is, that I'm not sure how it happened! My most likely suspect is 'Golden Cow', a vietnamese noodle house near my office. Runners up are a bottle of Dannon DanActive Probiotic Yogurt, whole wheat bagels from the grocery store, and the bowl of gazpacho I made a few days ago. At this rate I suspect everything. which sucks, cause I love food. That's just kind of my mood at the moment, thanks for listening.

So back to the aliens. Today was the first day that I could actually be taken places in car and walk distances without passing out or anything embarrassing. So the loml and I went to see 'District 9', which I think has only been out for a week or so.

Note* There is a good chance I will ruin the movie for you if you keep reading this.

and what can I say, its a great movie. The special effects are AMAZING because not only do they look great, but they aren't the main point of what might otherwise be a really lousy movie (*hint hint Transformers , I'm still bitter). But let's be clear, again, its a great movie from all aspects that I can reckon. Good plot, good acting, good action, great CGI, everything. So now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's get to what the movie was really about.

At first glance, its a retread of questioning our own humanity, by considering how we treat others. Its where star trek has been going for years, its eerily similar to the base plot line of 'Alien Nation' where a huge slave ship of aliens crashes on earth and now they have to be integrated into society (or at least the spin-off tv show, since I never saw the movie). but if you look closer, i think its less of sci-fi movie, and closer to one of those explorations of the human psyche where you get to see the main character, Wikus, gain his humanity.

to be specific. He's an animal, the society he lives in is animalistic, no better than a herd of wild animals who have banded together to secure resources from other animals who are different. This is made clearly apparent in the setup of the movie, with the displays of inhumane treatment that go on (and how can anyone miss the great hint that is South Africa?).

Though Animal Wikus begins to physically change, all of his reactions are fear-based. Fear for his life, fear for his way of life, fear of change. Even though his actions are now more exciting and explosive, he hasn't gotten anywhere. He hasn't really changed at all that is, until the very end, when he stops running away. That's when he becomes human, which ironically enough, is also when he becomes one of them.

Who'd a thunk? A sci-fi movie with some great thinking points. Peter Jackson! I applaud you. and you know what, this movie really reminded me of 'Enemy Mine'. Anyone else get that?