District 9

Review by Jason Donner

The ultimate illegal aliens are living in South Africa and since they are gross, stupid, and cause crime, the South African government has decided to evict them from their Johannesburg slum to a place 200 kilometers away, but when a government bureaucrat named Wikus become more involved than he ever thought he would or cares to be, he finds himself getting tossed in with the disgusting alien "prawn" as District 9 is closed for good.

Playing on age old racial hatred, District 9 turns minorities and immigrants into tentacled aliens who love to eat cat food and who are despised by the native population who wishes that they would just pack up and go somewhere else.

I loved this movie.  Let's face it, as a historical analogy of apartheid it's rather opaque and thick but District 9 is much more than just that; it's a science fiction movie with heart, action, and real human (and alien) struggle.

District 9 starts out as a sort of mockumentary in which the setting is explained.  The movie takes place in an alternate universe where alien refugees arrived in South Africa in 1982 and this organization, the MNU, was created to deal with them.  Wikus, in charge of the relocation I mentioned earlier, is eager to receive his fifteen minutes of fame on what is essentially a reality show.  The whole thing is darkly humorous.

It's during the film's second half that the action and story ramp up.  Wikus is contaminated by a strange black fluid being gathered by a District 9 resident named Christopher who seems a little more with it and more intelligent than the rest of the mostly dense residents.  It turns out that the clever little prawn and his son want nothing more than to go home and Wikus has been infected by their fuel which is having the effect of slowly turning him into one of them.

Body horror.  You've got to love it.

I'm a little surprised that more hasn't been made of the creation of Christopher and his son.  Usually, CGI characters like them are realistic until you look at their dead eyes.  In District 9, the alien eyes are expressive and you really connect when them.  It's wonderful to see a modestly-budgeted movie actually get it right when giant blockbusters haven't.  Much of the movie hinged on the believability of Christopher and he and his son are impressive creations.

District 9 is a clever play on xenophobia that is funny, action-packed, touching, and even farcical in nature.  How else are you supposed to describe aliens going wild over cans of cat food?  Still, the movie sells it and makes it believable and something you care about.

This is a brilliant little movie, that's for sure.