District 9(ja)

The movie 'District 9' is one of the year’s Sci-Fi’s blockbusters, set up in South Africa. It reflects the problems facing the South African society (i.e. Racism, Apartheid, and Xenophobia). Yet the Nigerian Government has sought to pull the plug on the movie airing in the country (though you can’t blame them ..... Obesandjo as the Nigerian warlord). But what this set of people (“rebranding the country”) don’t know is that they have helped in promoting this movie even further, amongst the non – movie enthusiasts; because this would prompt the average man/person/individual to see the movie even though the movie wouldn’t appeal to them. Hence the sales of pirated DVDs (in Nigeria) should & would experience a decent rise in the sales of any DVD bearing the “District 9” poster on its cover. Also, Nigerians living abroad would also try to see the movie, to see what the fuss is all about; which invariably makes more money for Peter Jackson (Wingnut Films).

Hence, no matter what the government does to ban the movie, they just end up promoting and popularising it, because of the unnecessary publicity that the movie has gained because of the ban. And finally, Neill Blomkamp (the co-writer and Director) should write a letter of appreciation to the Nigerian Government, for their extra support that his movie has received (his debut movie!). So if you really have to pass your judgement on the movie (in the Nigerian perspective), then you have to see it one way or another. This is a win – win situation for the movie and not Nigeria
Here are a few reviews of the movie:
movies.com – B
yahoo! Movies – B
Lyons Den – A

District 9 displays the awful truth, which is the image of Nigeria has seemed to carve for herself over the past 30 something years. And now all of sudden, she wants to change it in a snap, through a “rebranding tour” of the country. Even though it’s still neglecting some very important elements (like ASUU).