《District 9》　第九區(qū)　人性深處的恐怖區(qū)域

No.081　《District 9》　第九區(qū)　人性深處的恐怖區(qū)域

英文導讀

District 9 is a 2009 science fiction thriller film directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James.

The story, adapted from Alive in Joburg, a 2005 short film directed by Blomkamp and produced by Sharlto Copley and Simon Hansen, pivots on the themes of humanity, xenophobia and social segregation. The title and premise of District 9 were inspired by events that took place in District Six, Cape Town during the apartheid era. The film was produced for $30 million and shot on location in Chiawelo, Soweto, presenting fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras in a part-mock documentary style format. A viral marketing campaign began in 2008, at the San Diego Comic-Con, while the theatrical trailer appeared in July 2009. Released by TriStar Pictures, the film opened to critical acclaim on August 14, 2009, in North America and earned $37 million in its opening weekend. Many saw the film as a sleeper hit for achieving success and popularity during its theatrical run, despite a modest budget and relatively unknown cast.

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them.

Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens' welfare—they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens' awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.

The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable—he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.

The film won the 2010 Saturn Award for Best International Film presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, and was nominated for four Academy Awards in 2010: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Editing.

The film received very positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 91% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on a sample of 244, with an average score of 7.8 out of 10. The website wrote of the consensus, "Technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching, District 9 has action, imagination, and all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received a score of 81 based on 36 reviews, indicating "Universal Acclaim". IGN listed District 9 as 24 on a list of the 25 Great Sci-Fi films ever.

獲獎情況

2010年第82屆奧斯卡：最佳影片提名、最佳改編劇本提名、最佳視覺效果提名、最佳剪輯提名。

影片信息

導演：尼爾·布洛姆坎普

編?。耗釥?middot;布洛姆坎普、特麗·塔歇爾

主演：沙爾托·科普雷、詹森·庫伯、威廉·艾倫·揚、羅伯特·胡布斯

類型：劇情、動作、科幻、驚悚

制片國家（地區(qū)）：美國、新西蘭

上映日期：2009-08-14（美國）

片長：112分鐘

又名：《第九禁區(qū)》《D-9異形禁區(qū)》《第9區(qū)》

劇情簡介

1990年，一艘巨大的飛船出現(xiàn)在地球上空，人類惶恐不安，戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)兢兢地等待著對方可能會施予的來勢兇猛的侵略與襲擊或者是科技方面飛躍性的進步時，外星飛船始終沒有動靜。

人類小心翼翼靠近它，強行走進艙內(nèi)，結果發(fā)現(xiàn)他們來到地球并不是為了侵略和聯(lián)姻，而是要尋求庇護。原來這是一群來自外星的難民，他們最終被地球人接納，并隔離在南非約翰內(nèi)斯堡的一片區(qū)域內(nèi)生活，此地名為“第九區(qū)”。

經(jīng)過長達20年的繁衍，外星難民的數(shù)量擴張至180萬之多，且和周邊人類的矛盾沖突不斷，越來越多的人類呼吁將“大蝦”趕出地球。

控制和管理外星人的任務，已經(jīng)被政府承包給了一家被稱為“跨國聯(lián)合組織”（MNU）的私人公司，MNU經(jīng)過磋商，決定將外星難民遷移到更為偏遠的區(qū)域。MNU外星事務部門的特工威庫斯（沙爾托·科普雷飾）專門負責搬遷工作。威庫斯感染了一種神秘的病毒，他的身體隨著DNA的重組發(fā)生了驚人的變化，MNU對其不斷實驗，最后甚至想將其分解以取得所有有用的身體組織，這惹惱了威庫斯，他挾持研究人員逃出。他成為了全世界追捕的對象，因此只能躲到自認為最安全的第九區(qū)，可是也就是在這里，威庫斯整個人都發(fā)生了巨大的變化，漸漸地變成了外星人的模樣……

制作花絮

本片是導演尼爾·布洛姆坎普根據(jù)自己的一部電影短片《約翰內(nèi)斯堡的外星人》演繹而來的，本片同時也是尼爾·布洛姆坎普的第一部劇情長片。

本片的片名是根據(jù)美國近代的一個傳聞而來，幾十年內(nèi)一直傳聞美國有第51區(qū)，專門負責處理外星人事務，但這個消息并未得到官方承認。而《第九區(qū)》的含義也就是影射了“第51區(qū)”。

本片的構思源自導演尼爾·布洛姆坎普年幼時在南非種族隔離的經(jīng)歷。

本片在非洲的貧民窟實地拍攝。

本片里出現(xiàn)的大部分動物肢解尸體的場景都是真實的。

大批非洲國家的部隊中的真實武器被用于本片的拍攝，所以本片里出現(xiàn)的槍械大都是真實的。

重點學習

The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9

文中的set up是英語中的一個很常用的固定搭配，在文中，它是“安排”的意思，比如：You set up the deal! （整樁生意是你一手安排的！）Set up較常用的意思還有“建立，開辦；豎起；建起；引起，導致；提出（意見等）；創(chuàng)造（新紀錄）”等，比如：A fund will be set up for the orphans.（一項為孤兒設立的基金即將建立起來。）

Patience over the alien situation has run out

文中的run out是英語中的一個固定搭配，如果某東西run out, it becomes used up so that there is no more left. 也就是“耗盡”的意思，比如：Conditions are getting worse and supplies are running out.（情況越來越糟，給養(yǎng)也快耗盡了。）另外，該搭配其他較常見的意思主要有“跑出去；匆匆離開；（液體）流出；到期，期滿”，比如：When the lease ran out the family moved to Cleveland.（租賃合同到期后，這家人搬到了克利夫蘭。）

單詞時間

thriller[?θril?] n. 驚險小說；使人毛骨悚然的東西；使人毛骨悚然的小說

xenophobia[?zen?u?f?ubi?] n. 仇外；對外國人的畏懼和憎恨

segregation[?seɡri?ɡei??n] n. 隔離，分離；種族隔離

premise[pri?maiz] n. 前提；上述各項；房屋連地基

surveillance[s?:?veil?ns] n. 監(jiān)督；監(jiān)視

documentary[?d?kju?ment?ri] n. 紀錄片

sleeper[?sli:p?] n. 臥車；臥鋪；枕木；睡眠者

popularity[?p?pju?lær?ti] n. 普及，流行；名氣；受大眾歡迎

refugee[?refju?d?i:] n. 難民，避難者；流亡者，逃亡者

weaponry[?wep?nri] n. 兵器，武器（總稱）

friendless[?frendlis] adj. 沒有朋友的；無依無靠的；孤單的

positive[?p?z?tiv] adj. 積極的；正的，陽性的；確定的，肯定的；實際的

consensus[k?n?sens?s] n. 一致；輿論；合意