[img]7|left|||no_popup[/img] One of the best lines in Monster vs. Aliens was the crack about how the US is the only place in which aliens seem to land. Fans of Doctor Who would beg to differ, of course, but nevertheless, Hollywood’s US-centric vision of alien contact gets a decisive rebuke from District 9, which sets the aliens’ arrival in Johannesburg, South Africa. The choice of location is obviously, perhaps even oppressively, symbolic; the mockumentary-style story involving the confinement of the insectoid “prawns” in a ghetto/concentration camp called District 9 resonates with the history of South African apartheid. “Man on the street” interviews launch the film and illustrate the tension between Johannesburg’s human residents and the alien population. These are particularly sharp examples of the limitless human capacity of using identity politics to rationalize fear of the Other. Consider: the foundation to objecting to the aliens’ presence rests in the fact that they are from another planet instead of merely from another country.
Petty prejudices, hardly offset by the indirect presence of groups concerned over extending human rights to the aliens, are certainly an insidious aspect of the film’s human characters. More broadly, much of the film concerns official responses to the alien refugee population. Again, parallels to current affairs are unavoidable as the camp itself is a squalid city of shacks in which the aliens are reduced to a grimy, crime-filled life of scavenging and their co-existence with humans just as eager to exploit as help them is uneasy at best. Top of the list of dubious protectors/exploiters is Multi-National United (MNU), a private contractor responsible for administering and policing District 9 and the embodiment of humanity’s political inability to handle the dispossessed poor and homeless. MNU is very much a continuation of the sinister corporate archetype memorably presented in films like the Alien trilogy (forget the fourth film), except for changeable protagonist Wikus Van Der Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley as a sort of Steve Carrel character. Promoted in no small part due to nepotism, Wikus is given charge of the immense logistical task of evicting the aliens from District 9 to the remote (read: out of sight, out of mind) District 10. The queasy comedy that comes from watching the naïve Wikus go about his job doesn’t conceal how, at least initially, he embodies a bureaucratic prejudice and casual, weirdly good-humoured contempt for the aliens. When the plot really picks up momentum with irony plucked straight out of The Outer Limits, however, Wikus is challenged to reexamine his assumptions. Credit goes to Blomkamp for not making it easy for Wikus or layering on the nobility; the almost Shakespearean turn in Wikus’ character doesn’t come cheaply or with attempts to pander to audiences. Much of his motivation, rooted in the instinct for self-preservation, remains consistent. It changes only when faced with the starkest of choices.
Neil Blomkamp, who was given the opportunity to expand his short film Alive in Joburg as a consolation for the imploded Halo movie, proves a gifted director who takes a sledgehammer allegory and tunes it to a gritty commentary that is spoken and not shouted. It’s a shame that he doesn’t maintain the mockumentary discipline of other speculative dramas like Death of a President; more than a few scenes (especially in the last act) break out from the format. But all is forgiven given how gracefully he weaves together the film’s elements to create a world of startling realism. The massive alien ship – a city in itself – hovering above Johannesburg is as powerful an icon of mystery as any image in past science fiction film, and the aliens themselves, insectoids with all sorts of fascinating moving parts, are such wonders to watch that one could justifiably be eager for universities to offer courses in xenobiology. One of the film’s greatest pleasures rests in the characters of Christopher Johnson (voice of Jason Cope) and his son, with whom Wikus’ story becomes inextricably linked. The aliens are beautiful CGI, but the interactions between them and Copley brim with emotions and dramatic chemistry.
Also distinguishing District 9 from genre trappings is Blomkamp’s handling of very, very bloody violence in the context of a film that, on the surface, becomes something of an action extravaganza. While easy to indulge a fetish for military hardware and violent spectacle, getting past what we see on screen leads to the question of what the violence and weapons mean in terms of the alien characters and the story. District 9 is a tense film with thematic heft, easy to access but even more rewarding in the subtexts. In this lies the reason why the film can boast of having a uniquely satisfying open end. There are plenty of questions whose answers would offer the stuff of sequels, but the indirect, complex cliffhanger offers a plausible ambiguity that both feels right as is and whets the appetite for more. The real coup comes from taking the familiar, propping it up on a soapbox, and making the whole affair convincing without selling out as exploitative titillation or overly self-satisfied pretension.
Entertainment: ** (out of two)
Craft: ** (out of two)
Gold star recommendation
District 9. Directed by Neil Blomkamp. Written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Running time: 111 minutes. Starring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood, Mandla Gaduka, and Kenneth Nkosi. Rated R (for bloody violence and pervasive language).
Frédérik invites you to discuss “District 9” and more at his blog.
