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What it’s about:
We're in an alternate version of South Africa in which a giant alien ship and its cargo of leaderless insectoid aliens arrive in Johannesburg. The South African government is unsure of what to do with the starving and malnourished "prawns", who are promptly relocated to a township-like settlement called District 9. Twenty years later, with no advances in technology forthcoming and xenophobic tensions rising, the government contracts a private military company called Multinational United (MNU) to take charge of the aliens. The film follows moustachioed MNU bureaucrat Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) as he is put in charge of a project to relocate the aliens yet again.
What we thought:
District 9 is, quite simply, the first proper South African blockbuster. Bleak and unforgiving, the film can be read on multiple levels. But audiences will simply enjoy the spectacle of the film, where grimy high technology and dusty Joburg townships mix in a dark, sci-fi action movie.
South African-born, Canadian-based director Neill Blomkamp’s visual effects background is on fine display here – gone are the shiny, clean robots of films like Transformers. The alien technology in District 9 is dirty and realistic. The depiction of the aliens, with their slimy insectile carapaces, never veers into the plastic voyeurism of more recent science fiction movies – they seem solid and weighty, and all the more realistic for it. Blomkamp does his best to emphasise this realism through his use of news footage and shaky handycam cinematography.
Copley gives an excellent performance as Wikus, complete with strong Afrikaans accent that just misses swerving into caricature. His transformation from bureaucrat to unwilling liberator never seems improbable. He’s helped by great performances from David James as MNU mercenary Koobus and Eugene Khumbanyiwa as a Nigerian gang lord who sells food to the aliens in exchange for weaponry.
Blomkamp’s script takes care not to cast any character as the protagonist. By the end of the film, it’s still unclear whether Wikus is a decent guy or not. Similarly, the oppressed aliens are unpleasant and violent. They are neither good nor bad - just desperate.
As an action movie it succeeds – brutal, beautiful and oddly thoughtful. But the film also serves as an unsubtle metaphor for Apartheid and xenophobia, and it is on this level where District 9 is set apart. "One prawn, one bullet," sneers Koobus, as he puts a gun to the head of alien rebel Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope). Blomkamp may wish to de-emphasise the South African metaphor, but lines like that practically beg to be deconstructed. It’s the history of this country alright, and it ain’t subtle.
Does it work? Mostly. The film unsettles and disturbs, purposefully confronting viewers with images such as an Afrikaans bureaucrat leading aliens to freedom. But perhaps it depends on how much the viewer is willing to read into it. The film certainly doesn’t strive to paint the metaphor in too many shades of grey. It’s an action movie, after all, and even ex-South African Blomkamp admits he just wanted to "throw in" bits of his history.
On its own, the Apartheid metaphor is dissatisfying, but it lends remarkable credibility to the rest of the film, which is all the better for the lack of heroes, or easy answers. There is no resolution, says Blomkamp. Like life, District 9 is messy, but it’s a coherent mess.
The end result is an excellent and thoughtful alien action film – one that lives up to all the hype. Being set in Johannesburg is certainly a new perspective on the genre, and a treat for local audiences, but it doesn’t define the film, merely strengthens it.
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