ShareThis"For Use By Humans Only" and "No Non-Human Loitering" read the signs on the city's streets. In "District 9," one of the most original movies of the year, the aliens have already landed on Earth and we humans are not treating them very well.
A potent combination of exciting science fiction and serious social allegory, the film is the creation of first-time director/co-writer Neill Blomkamp, whose provocative idea received crucial backing from producer Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings," "King Kong"). "District 9" is out on DVD and Blu-ray this week in both one and two-disc versions (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $28.96/$36.95/$39.95 Blu-ray, rated R).
Set and filmed in contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa, where Blomkamp grew up during the apartheid era before moving to Canada with his family as a teenager, "District 9" is told in faux-documentary style. Viewers learn that in 1982, when South Africa was still ruled by its white minority, a spaceship came to rest high above the Johannesburg skyline. Upon exploration, it was discovered that most of the aliens aboard were dead. But those who survived were "rescued" and placed in townships and shantytowns and set apart from the general population.
Now, more than 25 years later, with South Africa transformed into a democratic society with blacks and whites working (more or less) together, the aliens are still living in abject poverty and are ostracized by humans. Except for a few rights advocates, South Africans of all colors and classes share a fear and hatred of the aliens, who stand about 7- or 8-feet tall and look like a cross between an insect and a crustacean -- the South Africans derogatorily refer to them as "prawns" (or "prauns" in the local spelling).
The modern story concerns a bureaucrat named Vikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an "alien affairs" staffer at a giant private corporation, MNU (Multi-National United), the government has placed in charge of controlling the aliens, who now number 1.8 million. As violence grows both within the shantytowns where the aliens live -- filmed in the actual shantytowns of Soweto and Alexandra where many poor black South Africans lived -- and in South African society, Vikus is selected to head MNU's efforts to relocate the aliens to other townships more than 200 kilometers away from the city of Johannesburg. Some of the aliens resist their forced removal.
Without giving away too much more, suffice it to say that circumstances change both Vikus' outlook and personal status. As Blomkamp puts it in his audio commentary, Vikus starts out as "a passive racist ... who goes through this staggering arc where he comes out 180 degrees from where he began."
Blomkamp acknowledges that his original conception had obvious parallels to South Africa under apartheid. As Blomkamp told Salon.com's Andrew O'Hehir in an interview, growing up in Johannesburg gave him the film's setting: "There's this constant sense of an urban prison, with razor wire and electric fences and armed guards everywhere. It's a very oppressive-feeling city."
The director expanded on his vision in the DVD's oral commentary and the three-part DVD documentary "The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker's Log." "South Africa has such a racially charged background," Blomkamp says in the documentary. "It has such a history that adding this alien element to it can make it a really interesting place for the film to take place in." He wanted to "give the sense of living in a South African township" -- the poverty and the danger of life in a lawless dumping ground filled with rusted nails, broken glass and discarded materials like asbestos.
But during the filming of "District 9" in the summer of 2008, new circumstances affected Blomkamp's story. As neighboring Zimbabwe continued its terrible spiral downward toward becoming a failed state, with runaway inflation and inadequate food supplies, thousands (perhaps millions) of refugees made their way to South Africa. In an eerie parallel with the movie, these desperate Zimbabweans were not met with compassion or support, but instead with murderous violence by resentful, still impoverished South Africans.
All of this turmoil, from the apartheid era to the present day, finds echoes in "District 9." There are even oblique references to South Africa's AIDS epidemic, in the form of comments about human-alien sex and wearing condoms.
As for the aliens themselves, these ET's are difficult to look at -- beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but they gave this beholder the creeps -- but they seem to possess an intelligence that is equal or greater than ours. They speak in an otherworldly language that includes electronic sounds, clicks (suggestive of some African tribal languages) and frog calls, but many are able to understand English. As the movie unfolds and we get to know some of the aliens, we realize they share certain core values with humans -- such as parental love for children and a sense of solidarity among their species.
"District 9's" authentic look and design, including the CGI work involved, is explained in four short DVD features on the 2-disc and Blu-ray versions: "Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus"; "Innovation: The Acting and Improvisation of 'District 9'"; "Conception and Design: Creating the World of 'District 9'"; and "Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of 'District 9'."
There's also an entertaining Interactive Map, "Joburg from Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9," which lets viewers explore alien technology and weaponry and tour the area through satellite maps and photo files.
In "District 9," Blomkamp has made a vastly entertaining film filled with heart-pounding suspense, quick-paced action (pretty gory stuff) and surprises. There are enough spectacularly inventive fights and CGI innovations to appeal to "Transformers" fans, while the societal setting gives the film considerable intellectual depth. It's a remarkable achievement for a first-time director.
"District 9's" cast: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood, Mandla Gaduka and Kenneth Nkosi. Director: Neill Blomkamp. Writers: Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Rated R.
(Contact Bruce Dancis at brucedancis(at)comcast.net)
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