‘District 9′ the film, reviewed
Science fiction as an art form is unequalled in its potential for versatility, it can either be used to speculate about developments in the future, to examine facets of the present or to re-examine the past by setting it in the future, all of these aspects apply to the sci-fi thriller film ‘District 9‘
Some while ago I watched a short science fiction film from South Africa, called ‘Alive in Joburg’ which I liked because it was so different to the usual Hollywood portrayal of alien species as warlike as in ‘Predator’ or ‘Aliens’.
The storyline of ‘Alive in Joburg’ was set in Apartheid era 1990 Johannesburg where gigantic flying saucers have arrived and the confused alien inhabitants have been settled in shantytown areas of the city where they are met with hostility from the human inhabitants.
The feel of the film was fresh, authentic and very realistic, for example there was an interview with a man who was being asked what he thought about the aliens and he responded negatively saying “they make us feel uncomfortable, we don’t know what they think, what they do so they’re going to make us unsafe, sometimes they do things which you dont expect them to do” it turns out that he was actually responding to questions about refugees from Zimbabwe.
The screenplay for ‘Alive in Joburg’ was written and directed by South African Director Neil Blomkamp’Alive in Joburg’ and produced by his long time colleague Sharlto Copley, this short film was well received and its theme was developed to become the recently released full length film ‘District 9′, directed by Neil Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson
This film is full of references back to the Apartheid era, the actual title of the film, ‘District 9′ refers back to District 6, where under apartheid laws a former area of Cape Town was redesignated for whites only and the black population were forcibly relocated outside of the city.
The storyline of ‘District 9′ continues from ‘Alive in Joburg’, 20 years after their arrival the aliens are living in District 9 a resettlement shantytown beneath the mothership which still mysteriously levitates in the sky above.
The aliens are now demoralised, disorganised and disorientated, they are exploited by a gang of Nigerian criminals and they no longer have any knowledge or control over the technology which brought them to earth, they are now shunned and despised by black and white south Africans alike.
The responsibility for the aliens has been outsourced by Government to a multi-national ‘Haliburton’ type corporation ‘Multi National United’ who are also involved in the research and development of the aliens weapon technology.
The film opens with MNU planning the forced relocation of the aliens which is led by the anti hero, Wikus van de Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley, who undergoes a sort of awakening which is the result of a series of tragic and extraordinary events as he becomes sympathetically involved with the lead alien character, Christopher, played by Jason Cope.
The settings are again so realistic, the location was an actual shantytown Chiawelo, a suburb of Soweto, which is close to Johannesburg where the residents were in the process of being relocated to Government subsidised housing projects.
I highly recommend anyone to watch this film which is exceptional for the social realism of the cinematography, it defies the sci fi genre stereotype in so many ways and is inspiring because of its South African origins and the way that it deals with xenophobia and refers to apartheid era issues.