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It
is unfortunate that the excellent, low-budget, allegorical, sci-fi
film, “District 9,” is no longer in theaters, especially now that ugly anti-immigrant
sentiment is on the rise here and in Europe—the Netherlands,
particularly. Director Neill Blomkamp, a
native of South Africa, had witnessed apartheid
first hand. His film transcends the big-budget sci-fi blockbusters in
many ways, most importantly in its message.
The
set-up is that a monstrous impenetrable, mysterious space ship is
hovering over Johannesburg. For two decades, its
thousands of human-sized, crustacean-like beings from another planet
have been quarantined by the South African government in a
township-like compound called District 9. Guarded by the military, they
live on bare land in shacks of corrugated iron, wood, and scrap.
Unlike
South African Blacks during apartheid, the beings, called prawns by the
Joburgians, have not been given work passes
or ID cards, and so can never leave. They can’t get jobs, so scavenge;
the government allows them crates of canned cat food to which they not
only have become addicted but use it to barter. Now their population
has outgrown the district; they are to be evicted and moved to a larger
compound.
The
film is shot partly in documentary style as cameras follow Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an inept, naïve low-level
government bureaucrat who works for MNU (Multi-National United), and
who has been put in charge of the relocation (think Steve Carrell of “The Office”). Accompanied by a
translator and military back-up, they enter the compound smashing in
doors, and forcing unwilling tenants to sign a form authorizing their
move.
The
aliens, with shrimp-like faces, speak in a clicking gibberish
(subtitled) with an Arnold Schwarzenegger cadence. It’s evident not
only by the fact of the space ship but also by powerful weapons that
they have built and only they can operate that the aliens have a superior
intellect. Of course, the government and the military want to tap into
it. Aliens begin “disappearing” and end up in on slabs in labs for
study.
De Merwe enters the alien Christopher’s shack while he
and his “mini-me” son are away; he finds a pile of old computers and
other sophisticated electronic equipment along with a canister of some
strange black liquid, which he inadvertently squirts in his face,
resulting in his gradual transformation, thus making him more valuable
to his employers.
Blomkamp gives us an inside look at life in such a place,
where rebel Nigerians exploit the aliens, and prostitution is rampant.
The issue of such alien and Nigerian sexual unions (and there are hints
of this), like mixed-race kids in the U.S. since forever, face discrimination.
(Recently, in Louisiana, a justice of the peace
refused to marry a Black man and a white woman, based on concerns for
hardships their kids would face. Then someone gave an example: Barack Obama.)
“District
9” was written and directed in such as way as to have audiences
sympathize with the aliens. The white South African bureaucrats are
lying, small-minded, compassionless and cruel; the military, faceless
thugs. You feel compassion for Wikus by the
film’s end and develop an affinity towards Christopher and his small
son, whom he treats like any protecting dad, warning him away from
danger. Still, at a crucial moment, his son demonstrates the technical
skill to run a space ship.
Currently,
the film is not on DVD. Until it is, go to the official website at
wwwdistrict9.com for trailers and more information, and push for a
re-issue.
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