District 9

Rating

Director

Neill Blomkamp

Screenplay

Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

Length

112 min.

Starring

Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt, Sylvaine Strike, John Sumner, William Allen Young, Nick Blake, Louis Minnaar, Vanessa Haywood, Marian Hooman, Mandla Gaduka, Johan van Schoor, David James, Kenneth Nkosi, Tim Gordon, Hlengiwe Madlala, Melt Sieberhagen, Andre Odendaal, Nick Boraine, Robert Hobbs

MPAA Rating

R for bloody violence and pervasive language

Review

Science fiction is often dismissed as one of the more fantastical genres of filmmaking. Most audiences expect a healthy dose of aliens in their sci-fi and look at it mostly as a medium for space battles, explosions and action elements. However, that’s not how the genre, and the best films bearing the sci-fi moniker, is intended. District 9, like many of the best science fiction films, has social ramifications that go well beyond the film’s narrative.

Set in South Africa, District 9 quickly establishes its timeline, including an alien invasion that never materializes as the aliens aboard the floating craft are suffering from malnourishment and disease and are thoroughly incapable of fending for themselves or inflicting injury on the public. Even with their danger largely muted, the people and the government can’t help but fear these strange creatures and create internment camps for the critters and establish safeguards and investigations to protect the public. Still, the public cries out for justice and sees these invaders as illegal immigrants, contributing nothing to society while leeching off of society.

The film follows a government official, Wikus Van De Merwe (Shalrto Copley), as he begins the process of forcing the aliens to voluntarily evict themselves from their squalid homes and move to new facilities the government has erected outside the city. Although the aliens would be moving into more sanitary conditions, they would be forced into more constrictive abodes and lose even more of their freedom and identity. Wikus, after attempting to forcibly vacate a panicked alien, ends up afflicted with a disease that begins causing his body to change and slowly become an alien himself.

After the government attempts to kill him in order to examine what has given him this ability to use alien technology, Wikus escapes into the District 9 and finds himself at odds with the aliens, those who choose to live and deal with them, and his own family.

While the film does feel notably different from the documentary style of the opening to the action focus of the latter film, it does so without losing its anti-discrimination theme. That being-there feel of the introduction merely establishes the environment we’re about to be thrust into. That it slowly transitions to a traditional narrative style helps the audience shift from merely observing to participating, allowing them to empathize with the aliens of the film.

This is the aspect of the film that adheres to many beliefs about science fiction as a genre. Without making the film feel heavy-handed or preachy. The sci-fi writer can thus create a modern environment, explore social ills and issues while entertaining the audience by giving it escapist tendencies. They fascinate the audience with unrealistic situations (such as aliens) and simultaneously show them the darkest side of humanity, hopefully encouraging the audience to think about reality and not just about the film.

There are few films that can handle that kind of discourse effectively. And while not all of them were set in the present day (Blade Runner for instance), many of them still manage to get the audience talking about the concepts brought up even if they are disappointed they didn’t get to see aliens (see Contact).

District 9 comes at a time of great turmoil in the world and thus bears a great deal more importance and relevance than had it come a decade or more ago. Some see the film as heavily anti-apartheid and they are right, but it is not simply just that. There are elements that conjure up images of the Holocaust, there are segments that exemplify the issues with illegal immigration. There’s bigotry, hatred, intolerance and any number of other issues addressed in the film. It’s a modern polemic. And it works.

With District 9, writer/director Neill Blomkamp establishes himself as new voice in cinema. Wile his first feature fits snugly in the sci-fi genre, he is reminiscent of a young Ridley Scott, who eventually branched out into other genres and has built a significant name for himself. If Blomkamp’s next film approaches anywhere near the quality of this film, then he may very well follow a similar trajectory.

The line of dialogue a film like District 9 opens cannot quickly or easily be measured. It took time after Blade Runner’s initial release for that film to institute itself as one of the pinnacles of the genre and as a benchmark of the 1980s. District 9, in terms of style and importance could very well end up one of this decade’s most talked-about and respected films, further keeping the genre from being little more than an action-oriented cash cow.

Review Written

December 2, 2009