District 9 is a sci-fi film that is plucky enough to go against the grain of what we’ve come to expect from genre movies. It’s almost incomprehensible to think that aliens would descend to earth anywhere else other than Washington, L.A. or New York, just as one character quips at the beginning of District 9’s documentary-style opening.
The aliens in Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi thriller are not accosted by a rugged hero in the mould of Will Smith or Bruce Willis either. In fact they’re not even on earth with the intention of world domination or a muck about on a BMX bike, they’re trapped here having broken down over the South African city of Johannesburg and now find themselves separated from humans, confined to live out their existence in a slum area known as District 9.
District 9 - Plot Outline
Hollywood has been crying out for a wealth of new ideas in recent years and if District 9 is anything then it’s certainly original.
Set in 2010, the beginning of the film plays out in the style of a reflective documentary with members of Multi-National United (a government corporation responsible for the large scale eviction of the aliens from District 9 to a larger compound) telling their stories of how the ‘Prawns’, as the aliens are affectionately known to humans, have outstayed their welcome and are causing widespread chaos with their unearthly behaviour. It’s been 20 years since the aliens arrived and they’ve outgrown their confinement area and need to be re-housed to quell a human uprising.
The tone switches slightly when we meet Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), the MNU pen-pusher who’s been promoted to the role of team leader for the military-led flush out of the alien ghetto. He’s a slightly uncomfortable character on camera, clearly more accustomed to the confines of his office than being centre stage in a documentary about MNU. But being married to the daughter of the company Director has given Wikus the chance to claim the limelight and lead the operation that has gained world-wide media coverage.
Wikus and his MNU team enter District 9 to begin the re-housing, offering the Prawns exile in a new camp just a few miles away, which is billed as having better living conditions. The aliens, being the rebellious bunch, won’t go without a fight and after raiding a hut containing Alien weaponry, Wikus comes into contact with a fluid which yields some strange side-affects.
When MNU officials learn of Wikus’ exposure to the chemical, District 9 makes a sudden transition from documentary to out-and-out action film. Wikus’ body is now a valuable commodity to MNU who can use his genetic interaction with alien DNA to make millions in technological developments. Not wanting to become a lab rat, Wikus escapes from his med-lab to the only place where he knows MNU will never expect him to go – District 9.
Early Reception of District 9
There have been parallels drawn with the segregation of the aliens in District 9 and that of Apartheid South Africa up until 1994. Having been set in Johannesburg, there were always going to be such comparisons and rightly so, there are obvious similarities, but you could also stretch the analogy to any act of discrimination through history. It could be the Holocaust for example, the flush out of the alien ghetto could be seen as similar to that of the Jewish ghetto’s during World War II (Wikus even comments at one stage about the new alien homes being more like a concentration camp than an improvement on District 9), or it could even be a social comment on how some narrow-minded folk treat immigration. Many of the native South Africans are seen complaining when interviewed that “it’s about time the aliens went back home”. The point I am trying to make is that it would be unfair to read between the lines too deeply to uproot a political message in a film that is essentially popcorn fodder.
Central Characters in District 9
Putting political messages aside and focusing plainly on its merits as a blockbuster, District 9 is one of the most surprising films in recent years, surprising not only due to the subject matter but also due to the characters. Wikus Van De Merwe could well develop a cult fan base among sci-fi boffins, he’s the unlikeliest of action heroes, a leading man with a tie and a side-parting is not something we’re exactly used to in the movies, but it’s brilliantly refreshing nonetheless. The only thing that detracts from Sharlto Copley’s satisfactory debut performance is the (probably unintentional) humour that accompanies his South African tones, particularly a rather Scouse-sounding f-word, which can be quite distracting.
District 9 could also be one of the first films to contain an entirely CG action hero in Christopher Johnson - the Prawn that becomes a valuable aid to Wikus when he’s on the run. Communicating entirely in clicks, the aliens in District 9 don’t even require voice-over, just some post-production subtitles.
The alien design is intensely detailed and quite believable as an extra-terrestrial life form, something which most sci-fi’s since Alien seem to have put less emphasis on, and although District 9 is an effects heavy film, there’s enough attention to detail in both the set design of the slums and the close ups of the alien’s features to forgive the occasional over-use of CGI during the action sequences.
On the whole, an event-movie that shows enough creativity (and guts) to challenge genre stereotypes deserves a big thumbs-up nowadays.
Verdict: 4/5
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