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Sharlto Copley in Columbia Pictures
’ District 9 |
Sci-fi flick waxes political as ETs become ghetto refugees
DISTRICT 9
Directed by Neil Blonkamp
Certificate 15
IF aliens arrived from another planet, how would we treat them? This is essentially the premise of this superb sci-fi flick that marries racy action and a good dollop of humour with a more profound discussion about how we treat others not from the same part of town as us.
Sci-fi film-lovers might expect an alien craft to hover menacingly above Manhattan or Los Angeles. But no – this giant flying saucer has chosen the Johannesburg suburbs. This sets the tone for a truly original piece of sci-fi film making.
Those below wait with bated breath for the craft to open and unleash great terror, or bring peaceful greetings from outer space. Instead this craft just sits there for a little while. And then for a bit more. And then more.
So finally a bunch of plastic suited, wellie boot-wearing military types fly up and cut their way in – to find a huge gang of half-starved aliens languishing in various stages of malnutrition and ill health.
It so transpires these crustacean-like creatures – called disparagingly “prawns” by humans - are refugees from another planet and are stranded on earth. They are put into a make shift refugee camp while humans argue over what to do with them. The camps quickly become shanty town slums, rife with disease, crime and a ballooning population for the next 20 years.
Things come to a head as antagonism between humans and aliens begins to grow, riots start and people call for the “prawns to go home”. A Blackwater style company of mercenaries called Multi-National United are charged with clearing the slum, called District Nine, and moving the aliens to land far outside Jo’burg. It is at this point that things begin to go badly wrong.
The aliens are under the jurisdiction of the MNU but the shanty town is really run by a gang of armed thugs, intent on squeezing them as much as possible, swapping their advanced technology for tins of cat food: like the MNU, they are after the secrets of the aliens’ firepower. It transpires humans can’t operate their guns as they are activated by alien DNA. The gangsters believe if they ingest the flesh of the alien, they too will be able to use the guns.
The anti-hero is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a geeky civil servant type character put in charge with evicting the extra terrestrials from a shanty town they’ve been shoehorned into. It provides much “unintentional” humour, as he knocks on the doors of these creatures to issue them with eviction notices. And it is while carrying out this erroneous task that he comes unstuck, gets sprayed by a mysterious liquid and then gradually, painfully, begins to transmogrify into an alien himself, a la The Fly. Blomkamp uses hand-held camera work, documentary-style talking heads, rolling news channels.
The action is great but what stands out is the point Blomkamp is making about immigration.
If aliens landed, how would we respond? Would they be shuffled off to live in ghettoes? South African-born, he recalls the horrors of apartheid.
To produce such a film in an age where politicians use a harsh immigration policy as a cheap target is clever, insightful and thought-provoking.
We meet Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo) as he spends a pleasant day at the car races with chums Lori (Shantel Van Santen) Janet (Haley Webb) and Hunt (Nick Zano). But poor Nick is feeling a tad weird – and no wonder. He foresees a brutal accident taking place where a car crash sends debris spinning into the grandstand and slices people into little pieces.
Moments before said accident happens, he persuades his gang to leave, and they witness the events from the comparative safety of the car park. His actions have also saved the lives of a security guard and a vile racist redneck. But for how long? As the preposterous fourth and final instalment in this popular horror series unfolds, it is clear that cheating death, an unidentifiable higher power wreaking havoc on those it’s chosen to take that day, is not easy. More premonitions follow and the foursome, with other survivors, have to break a seemingly synchronised chain of deaths in order to save themselves.
Shown in 3-D, this is a polished film with the usual “quick, duck” tricks – all manner of sharp objects come spinning towards you, as do bucket loads of human offal.
It is hard to know what to make of it: at first you think surely director David R Ellis can’t be serious – and then you realise, of course, he isn’t. This is disgusting horror comedy set in a stereotypical American suburb. Ellis does well by using everyday locations to set his carnage: the racetrack, the beauty salon, the mall, the multiplex cinema. Never taking itself seriously, it is a super ride that thrills and grosses you out in equal measure. |
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