The Lovely Bones

Writers and poets have such a love affair with death and the afterlife.  Death plays chess in our world in Ingmar Bergaman’s The Seventh Seal and Orpheus is romanced by Death herself and travels to her world in Jean Cocteau’s version of the film Orpheus.  Both films are solemn and glib.  Peter Jackson is the latest to guide us into his lollipop version of the afterlife for a 14-year-old murdered girl in The Lovely Bones.  It’s Disney for the Dead.

In the 70′s, a new resident pervert digs a subterranean den for killing beneath the cornfields outside of Philadelphia.  George Harvey (Stanley Tucci) cowardly lures innocent defenseless Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronanand) inside and her soul escapes not yet understanding the mutilation its body has suffered.  Susie wonders in a world watching ours desperately trying to get back to her family.  George hides under the radar in an investigation led by Michael Imperioli and converges on the path of Mark Wahlberg’s paternal revenge.  Thirsting for the thrill of the kill once again, George gazes towards Susie’s sister Lindsey (Rose McIver).

The Salmon household is shattered as both parents react to their daughter’s death differently and their bond falls apart.  Mark Whalberg immerses himself in an investigation to catch the predator and his wife (Rachel Weisz) flees to California to work in the fields as a day laborer. The Mother-in-law (Susan Sarandon) is a drunk that adds some comedy to a tense situation.

This is where the film is at a loss.  It is unbelievable that the mother just upped and left to work with migrant field workers.  Sarandon’s character really adds nothing except time to the 135-minute film that should be trimmed by at least 15 minutes.  It was as if Sarandon had a cameo role and Weisz decided to leave the set and return for one last scene.  The third act is rather drawn out.  And Susie’s love interest looks much older than she and he came off rather creepy.  A while back I saw the trailer for the film and believe it is he who exclaimed that he did not kill Susie, yet this does not appear in the film.

As the 14-year-old wonders in LaLa Land, Susie wishes herself back in the room where Sean Cassidy is plastered along the walls and the memories of her first romance, only to be jaded by her murder, causes her much angst.  Her world is filled with color, dazzling sun filled days seamlessly mesh adjacently to star bright nights and all of earth bound realities and laws of physics are suspended.  Susie encounters a young girl with the message of “Don’t look back.”  She continues to hold on and witnesses that her actions manipulate the world in which she is now only a memory. Her father looks out into the night and faintly hears and sees her.  Hysteria and anger overtake him and he smashes the dozens of ships in bottles that he and his daughter spent time building.  His violent actions and emotions appear on the shore in the afterlife as large ships in bottles float close to the shore and begin to smash and sink in this magnificent  CGI world.

The acting is first rate.  At first, I didn’t recognize Tucci  He transformed into a pedophile.  His character has such depth.  He portrays the concerned citizen to the police, he gives off a menacing evil look that causes girls to shudder, and he deploys so much by doing so little in terms of dialogue.  He is neighborhood creep, concerned citizen, friendly neighbor, reclusive clean freak, unassuming man in the mall, and the meek mild mannered somewhat bumbling fool.  He is deserving of an Oscar.

The film combines action, drama, and suspense in a world of wonderment juxtaposed against the bleakness of the cold northeast.  Did you read the book?  I did not and those that have are criticizing the script for its lack of depth and simplification of the characters.  Susan Sarandon is one that is harping about her limited role.  This is true for so many films.  For instance, Anna Karenina is stripped to its barest and loses what Tolstoy’s 800+ page epic brings forth.  A film is meant to stand alone.  To all of those moaning about this, please present your script.

District 9

Well over two decades ago, an alien craft hovered motionlessly over Johannesburg, South Africa.  Eventually, its doors were pried opened and trapped beings were found within and rescued.  Humankind lends a helping hand to these creatures and what began as a mission of goodwill is now scowled at as these creatures are regarded as pests in which there is no possible method to rid them from earth under the watchful eye of humanitarian organizations.

District 9 is what amounts to as a refugee camp for the crustacean –like creatures termed “prawns.” The camp is a terrible shantytown where crime and vice run amok.  Nigerian gangs rule as drugs and guns are sold.  There is no Spielberg spawned creation resemblance for these aliens.  They are neither cute nor appealing nor are they an awe of amazement for humans.  They do not speak any human language and seem to have a thing for electronics.  Televisions, wires, and circuitry lay waste for these scavengers.

The film is shot in a cinema-verite style documenting the eviction notices that an official agency must serve to the prawns to move them to District 10; A further away eyesore.  And this is where our main character, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is introduced.  He is representative of Multi-National United that is the big mean corporation that is contracted to rid the prawns.  As news crews go along with Wilkus, a humble nervous little man who starts to gain mucho bravado and makes careless movements proving his effectiveness for the T.V. cameras that document the event.  His mistake results in his being sprayed with a substance that begins to cause him illness and then something extraordinary.

He carries on and eventually finishes his duties for the day and runs to his surprise birthday party at home, in which his father-in-law, a bigwig at Multi-National United, is present.  With molasses-like bodily fluids violently discharged and a downpour of sweat, he is rushed to the hospital.  His hand now resembles that of a prawn.  As his father-in-law looks on, it is learned that Wilkus is the first human-prawn cross breed.  And in the interest of big money, Wilkus should be cross-sectioned and blended so that the genetics can be cloned.  With such a scientific advancement, the prawns’ weapons of mass destruction that are incapable of being activated by human touch will now be operational in the hands of humankind.

Wilkus must escape the clutches of the evil agency that wants him filleted.  With the weapons that he can now fire, he blasts his way out and runs to to the safety of the South African landscape, hiding and then advancing through cunning and resolve.  His journey is back to District 9 and to the prawn that housed the spray that infected him.

The third act is a shoot ‘em up western that is a showdown between the private militia led by a Stone Cold Steve Austin look-alike and the meek yet determined Wilkus and his alignment with a prawn and “baby prawn.”   In the rubble are left behind dead prawn, humans, and unanswered questions such as who are they and where did they come from.   Regardless of questions unanswered, District 9 is a fun flick with a sequel in the making.

Writer/director Neill Blomkamp and writer Terri Tatchell make social commentaries in this film.  The prawns seem to be as violent and malevolent as we are. District 9 resembles refugee camps in Pakistan.  Big Business is the arch enemy here.  Wilkus is an example of being swallowed up and spit out.

Yet, we fuel such things by keeping it out of sight and out of mind or by excusing things until it happens to us.  Then it really matters.  In doing so we are embracing these atrocities.  People invading lands and exterminating the indigenous peoples smear our history of mankind.  There is no kindness. In America, our original Thanksgiving feast intentionally eased the guard of the Wampanoag so the pilgrims could commit a heinous slaughter.  The Mexican government is exterminating the Mayans.  Genocide is committed on a daily basis.  With so much turmoil in South Africa and its surrounding nations, it would be interesting to learn what local issues the writing pair based this film upon.