District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp, is a sci-fi thriller with a difference. The film’s title refers to the home of a refugee community in Johannesburg – over-crowded and utterly neglected by the authorities. These refugees, unwanted and hated by the other residents, are just a little different in that they are not of this Earth.
Twenty years back, an unidentified flying object was seen hovering over Johannesburg. There were reports that the command module separated from the ship and fell on the Earth, although it was nowhere to be found. Unclear about the intentions of the inhabitants of the ship, an exploratory team was sent up when no attempt at communication was forthcoming from the ship. What the team found was a large group of leaderless, exhausted and malnourished crustacean-looking creatures. They were given asylum on Earth and soon earned the derogatory name of “Prawn” for their appearance.
Soon enough, the humans became weary of the uninvited visitors. The only interest remaining, if any, was to control the very advanced weapons that the aliens possessed.
Fast-forward to the present, and the debate continues on what to do with the aliens, their growing numbers and the apathy of the authorities, resulting in squalid living conditions. Their desperation to survive leads the creatures to crime, which in turn makes the humans despise the not very fetching aliens even more than they already do.
It is decided to forcibly evict the entire alien population from District 9 in the city – where their existence is an irritant to the human population – to a concentration camp hundreds of kilometres away. The job of enforcement goes to a military corporation called MNU.
Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), the MNU field operative entrusted with the task of clearing District 9, is unwittingly exposed to a contaminant which begins to alter his DNA and change him into a prawn. This metamorphosis gives him the ability to operate the alien weaponry. The hunter soon becomes the hunted, with his human employers attempting to harvest his organs and obtain his DNA in order to take control of the weapons.
Produced by Peter Jackson, District 9 is a chilling commentary on the moral decay in society, a cynical portrait of the institutionalised greed and apathy that the human race is capable of when dealing with beings that have little or no means of their own and are powerless to defend themselves or assert their rights.
The film evokes some reprehensible events from South African past, like “cleansing” whole areas (notably District Six in Cape Town) of non-white residents during the apartheid era. It also makes references to social segregation and xenophobia that continue to plague South Africa (and the world), as well as references to the universal problem of unethical corporations that value profit more than lives (human or alien).
The film was produced for $30 million and shot in Soweto, South Africa. It opened on 14 August 2009 in North America to critical acclaim and box office success, earning $37 million in its opening weekend. District 9 on DVDs on Blu-ray discs is available online on bidorbuy.co.za.
