Refugee Song: District 9 review
The balancing act between commercial appeal and subversion is often something to be avoided when considering mainstream film. For so many years, the oft suggested mantra was to steer clear of sensitive issues and to offer viewers a means to merely sit back, escape and to release psychic garbage by way of diversion. But as time has proven, this approach to cinema can in fact be bent to fit the thoughts, attitudes, and mores of a society's place in time. Arguably the last time we had truly experienced this was throughout the Vietnam era and until the mid-70s. Otto Preminger, and his anti-heroes pounded the screen beat as moral compasses were questioned, traditional ideologies were questioned, and film crackled with a challenging honesty that hadn't before been captured for mass viewing. Along with this, the b-list film grew into more than mere fodder for drive-ins, but a place where exploitation cinema could in fact reach levels closer in tone to the masters.
And as the 70s came to a close and the 80s with its "For The Masses" manifesto slowly began to creep into all corners of popular culture, and despite my love for many films of the golden age of Spielberg, something was definitely missing. This all came to a near devirginizing halt once upon seeing films such as The Terminator, and Robocop. Not only was I too young to completely comprehend the inherent themes of both science fiction juggernauts at the time, I was also too young to know just how much of an influence they'd actually be years later. Both films not only had great characters and sharp action, but also had a great deal more to them than the typical fare of their days. They truly had a message to share with the audience as long as they were willing to listen.
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