District 9: Taking NIMBYism to a whole new level.

Cast: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Vanessa Haywood
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Screenwriters: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

The story goes that twenty years ago an alien spaceship came to rest above Johannesburg. Its passengers, over one million strange looking alien refugees, were seeking asylum from their far off planet. They were malnourished and disorientated, and on seeing their state the generosity of the people of earth shined through as they sent aid and food parcels to help the creatures. However, after twenty years the novelty has worn off and not only are the people of Johannesburg less inclined to help them, they now want them off their land.

Sectioned to a tiny shanty town directly under their ship, the alien immigrants are forced into a life of squalor, persecution and exploitation. A private company, MNU (Multi-National United) is appointed to deal with the aliens and the film follows the story of an MNU field operative named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley). Wikus is put in charge of a massive project to evict the creatures from their shanty town to a new concentration camp hundreds of kilometres from the city. But after becoming infected by an alien chemical, Wikus is forced to take a new look at his views of those he has been trying to oppress.

This could easily be just another alien shoot ‘em up movie, and if it had been made in Hollywood it probably would have been, but the South African setting is a refreshing break from LA and New York. Instead of a simple good guys versus bad guys theme, District 9 takes a far more nuanced perspective, asking what could actually happen if aliens arrived on earth?

Wikus is far from the fast talking, fast shooting Hollywood cop that would usually have the centre role in a film like this. In fact, he is a twitchy, geeky office worker, and much of the time quite unlikeable. To start with he has no empathy with the aliens whatsoever. In one scene we see him laughing as a shack containing alien hatchlings is torched and explaining that the strange noises are the infants popping like popcorn in the fire.

In fact, most of the humans are odious and as the film develops it becomes clear that the most compassionate and morally driven character is in fact Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope), one of the aliens who trying desperately to save his people.

The film takes the time to explore some important issues such as extreme poverty and discrimination. The treatment and living conditions of the aliens reflect racial tensions and prejudices in human history; the title itself is a reference to District 6, only in this case the victims’ skin is not just a different colour but also plated like a crustacean, leading to the discriminative slur “prawns”. These issues are not openly discussed, allowing the audience to recognise them while enjoying the conventional action aspects of the film.

Made with a relatively small budget of $30 million, the film not only brings up deeper issues but also packs one hell of a punch, with some mind blowing special effects. The aliens themselves have been masterfully created, with animation and robotics that allow them to be extremely expressive – not an easy job for faces that are armoured and tentacled.

Of course this is still an action film so a massive chunk of that budget went towards blowing stuff up, and boy do they do that well. The joy of aliens in films is that their kick-ass weaponry gives the creative time wider scope when it comes to violence and destruction. There are a LOT of explodey things here, especially people, and it’s worth pointing out that District 9 isn’t for the faint hearted. It’s a brutal assault on the senses, jumping rapidly between mind blowing shoot out sequences and some gruesome examples of what the human body is not supposed to do.

It’s safe to say that District 9 covers new ground for sci-fi and action movies. This a truly original piece of work that manages to be intelligent but not at the expense of shooting stuff. It relies on the audience’s own observations rather than force feeding them ethical and moral questions, and is a definite contender for film of the year.

District 9 is out on 4th September via TriStar Pictures

By Helen Weldon