district 9 - warning! potential spoilers ahead

Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

I saw District 9 yesterday with a very enthusiastic Charles.

I can't explain it, but the movie made me feel quite sick. I actually squirmed in my seat in several scenes and at one point desperately even wished to be back home doing finance. I don't say that because the movie was gory (it was, just a little), or that there are bloody bits in it - all of which I take quite well, thank you very much. No, it was the stark horror and reality of the flaws ugliness of humanity that made me sick to see. it's a little like looking into a mirror and seeing a monster you don't recognise.. and when i think about it, it's a monster that's in all of us.

i will say that i recognise a good movie when i see one, and it was a good movie. there's no denying it. only a good movie would suck you in so much that you feel yourself hoping or despairing alongside the characters.

it made me think of some pretty depressing things.

- it's human nature to be opportunistic, to take advantage of any situation for our own benefit.
the movie took it one step further - there was this absolutely mercenary scene where this poor guy was lying helpless, and his bosses and co-workers (people who he lived and worked alongside! wth!) coldly stood above him and discussed harvesting his organs for money. i think those two men died later .. i think (hah! take that you evil s.o.bs!)

- we are so limited and arrogant in our own species and knowledge that anything that we don't know or can't probe into frightens us.
it's true. as a race we exist in our own little bubble, ignorant to the possibility of life or technologies that surpass ours. and yet when we do encounter such things, it is incomprehensible to us. we try to conquer things that we don't understand.. to use for our benefit. (is there any end to the selfishness of humans? evidently not) and if we don't manage to tame whatever it is, we turn against it by capturing it, killing it, or force it into the confines of uniformity and our limited imagination/intellect. i'm sure there was once a time when instead of looking towards dissecting/controlling/conquering things, people looked towards discovering and creating and understanding.

- love does jack shit when you're an alien
no explanation necessary. lol. poor charles had to endure my incessant pestering about whether he would still love me if i sprouted alien extremities. :P

tis a sad sad world we live in.