District 9 (2009)

Science fiction has always been a wonderful genre to explore the human spirit; both the kinder aspects and those less kind. You learn a lot about an individual in witnessing their treatment of other things, especially the powerless and the weak. While human beings are certainly capable of noble intentions and acts, we are also quite susceptible to attitudes of apathy, selfishness, and cowardice. These uglier actions manifest even easier when driven by the repulsion and disgust of a people and culture far, far different than our own.

The world buzzes with excitement as a massive alien mother-ship descends from the heavens to rest above the unlikely location of Johannesburg, South Africa. The excitement wanes, however, when the ship seems to enter some sort of hibernation mode; it floats there, above the city, for nearly three years with no discernable activity. Tired of waiting for the alien ship to make a move, the government sends up aircraft and engineers to cut a hole and investigate. What they find is a mass of alien beings suffering in the darkness, starving, dirty, and desperate for humane care.

An emergency camp is immediately erected for these lost alien immigrants, but a lack of funding, poor planning, and a malaise of apathy cause the area to rapidly fall into a bizarre alien slum. District 9 houses the entire alien population, and it is criminally infested, dirty, and frankly needs the razing of fire and bulldozers. The surrounding human population tires of what they see as alien squatters living in filth, and so begins a massive eviction to kick the aliens out of the squalor, relocating the creatures hundreds of miles away into the new tent city of District 10.

So revs the engine which drives District 9. Multi-National United (MNU) employee Wikus Van De Merw (Copley) heads the relocation effort, and a documentary style project records the eviction with on the site footage as well as with one-on-one after the fact interviews. Communication between the humans and aliens is less than friendly, and tensions rise quickly as the team travels door to door to notify the aliens of their imminent removal. As can be expected, things do not go smoothly; and Wikus soon finds himself intimately involved with the aliens on a level far, far below his comfort threshold.

District 9 is a bold, fun, and hilarious adventure with a number of clever twists. The entire setup is thoroughly unlikely, and joyously so. Wikus is one of the most unlikely protagonists ever to be cast in a heroic adventure. He’s arrogant, weak, and cowardly; his sniveling amusement at the alien’s suffering in the first act shows a great dearth of feeling. This is a self-serving corporate company man, happy as long as he and his are cared for, and uncaring for those not of his kind. This makes his character arc all the more profound when he finally finds a conscience and does the right thing. His eventual heroism strikes like a revelation, rather than a simple change of heart, and remolds the man’s character to the point of rebirth.

If ever aliens existed that would be easy to loath, it might be the ‘prawns’ of District 9. They truly are slimy looking things, appearing as a sort of humanoid bipedal insect. Their eating habits are putrid, their apparent ignorance profound, and their indifference to squalor and filth easily generating disgust and contempt. The camp itself is riddled with petty squabbles and crime; many of which are often sparked by the alien’s addiction to cat food (it’s a little like catnip to the critters). The camp also co-habits a gang of ruthless Nigerians who profit from the aliens by exploiting them for their alien weaponry and by other, less savory means; up to and including inter-species prostitution.

District 9 is a film in which CGI truly shines. The aliens themselves are presumably 100% CGI, yet are completely realized and utterly integrated. Combat, gore, and alien bits splatter across the screen with a truly organic feel that leaves the camera lens dripping. The violence itself is often startling, especially when alien weaponry enters the fray, with bodies exploding into bloody shreds of flesh every few seconds. These scenes of action and violence are bloody, beautiful, and a hell of a lot of fun.

While the film certainly carries the weighty subtexts of human apathy, selfishness, and arrogance, it still manages this with a strong dose of comedy. This is a funny movie, filled with black humor, and absolutely feels touched upon by producer Peter Jackson’s love for splatter gore gags. Director Neill Blomkamp shows a definite wit in constructing situations that can sometimes be disturbingly funny. Look for the first act alien ‘abortions’ for an example; they pop like popcorn!

Human arrogance and apathy are traits in which we will be forever afflicted, affecting everyone within our population in at least some point in their lives. District 9 shines a spotlight on the uglier side of human behavior, but it does it with a clever wit and style that makes its hand less than heavy and is completely enjoyable. Go see this film.