We have seen this before. Aliens arrive on Earth and the interaction with them and humans takes its toll. Humans grow tired and weary of their presence and eventually want nothing to do with them. But this sci-fi flick is nothing but ordinary. These alien beings, called “prawns” because of their resemblance to crustacean, arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa of all places and have been there for the past 20 or so years. Upon their arrival they are very malnourished and the humans (with sympathetic hearts) take them in and place the prawns in an area called District 9.
But after the 20 or so years they have spent in Johannesburg, the humans grow tired of their presence and fear that the prawns will attack at any given moment. The citizens want them out. The man who heads up the operation to evict all the alien beings is a young, clueless bureaucrat named Wikus van de Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley. He, along with the rest of him team, go into District 9 and start the process of driving the prawns out of their homes.
These aliens have settled into our planet and it is time for them to leave. Just by looking at these aliens, there is not much to like. They are ugly, violent and have no business being here other than to annoy the hell out of us and scare us into thinking that they will attack if provoked.
District 9, directed by newcomer Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), takes the form of a mockumentary about van der Merwe’s relocation campaign, his infection by an alien virus, his own refuge in District 9 and his partnership with the only alien who behaves intelligently and reveals human emotions. This alien, named Christopher Johnson has a secret workspace where he prepares to return to the mothership and help his people. What Neill Blomkamp somehow does is make Christopher Johnson and his son, Little CJ, sympathetic despite appearances. This is achieved by giving them, but no other aliens, human body language, and little CJ even gets big wet eyes, like E.T.
The film’s South African setting brings up inescapable parallels with its now-defunct apartheid system of racial segregation. Many of them are obvious, such as the action to move a race out of the city and to a remote location. District 9 does a lot of things right, including giving us “aliens” to remind us not everyone who comes in a spaceship need be angelic, octopod or stainless steel. They are certainly alien, all right. It is also a seamless merger of the mockumentary and special effects (the aliens are CGI [computer graphics image]). And there’s a harsh parable here about the alienation and treatment of refugees.
This film brought out all the guns and it flowed well from beginning to end. Blomkamp’s vision of making the aliens seem more “human” than the actual humans was brilliant. Though the themes are universal, the director’s childhood in South Africa clearly informs the film’s sensibility, in this case greatly adding to its distinctive look and feel. It’s an impressive first feature for the 29-year-old Blomkamp.
