District 9

Impressions before seeing it
A fake documentary about aliens trapped on Earth? What a cool idea!

How was it?
This was one of those times where, minutes into the film, I was already thinking "this movie is awesome." And I didn't stop thinking it, even when it decided to shift genres around the halfway point and become a sci-fi action thriller. Well, maybe that's a drastic way to say it, but I personally was expecting more of a drama than an action-packed thrill ride. Not that I was disappointed, or that it didn't wear both hats.

There are some scenes that are difficult to watch. As in any good "war" movie, there is gruesome violence and senseless killings. The aliens (known as prawns), like anyone else in their situation, are pissed off at the way they're being treated and just want to go home. The movie allows you to sympathize with the prawns but you can also see why humans fear and hate them, and that's exactly the boat you need to be in to best take note of the racism themes. The sympathy allows you to realize we're not above them, and the fear forces you to admit that perhaps there is a problem if you're capable of thinking of others as monsters. It just wouldn't work if you only felt one or the other.

Furthermore, I think the stronger message is that we could abolish racism if we would simply work together. It's that simple. Our hero, Wikus, didn't truly have his feet in both camps until he started to turn into a prawn, and that's when he found that they had a common goal. They hatch a plan and agree to work together, but notice how horribly everything goes wrong the moment Wikus makes a selfish decision to take matters into his own hands. It's not because he's a scew-up (well, maybe that's partly true), it's because every individual is stronger when they can form a team combining their strengths. Fighting is pointless, if we work together, everybody wins!

And if you're opposed to having morality messages thrown at you, that's okay too, because this movie is also just awesome as a piece of entertainment.

Recommendation
It's definitely worth checking out. Probably one of the best movies of the year so far.