DISTRICT 9 (2009)

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"A great film debut by Neil Blomkamp"

Film projects can quickly develop or dissolve often either coming to full fruition or completely falling apart. In the case of the adaptation of Microsoft's phenomenally successful 'Halo' video game it was the latter. Produced by Peter Jackson, the project was to be the directorial debut of Neill Blomkamp, who caught the eye of the 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy helmer with his short film 'Alive in Joberg'. With his short alien invasion tale, Blomkamp not only established a theme similar to 'Halo', but that he could produce a picture on a miniscule budget. With pre-production underway, Blomkamp was hit with the revelation that the project was dead in the water due to disputes between Microsoft and the studios producing the film. So what do you do, when your film gets scrapped and you have a production team ready to go? You go ahead and make a film anyway. Feeling that he and his partners still owed Blomkamp a film, Jackson decided they would shift gears and turn 'Alive in Joberg' into a full-length feature. The result is 'District 9', a film that's not only an exciting debut, but a thrilling and surprisingly thought-provoking release in a summer where audiences haven't been expected to think at all.

Twenty-eight years ago a massive alien craft appeared in the skies and provoked a global panic. The ship chose not to hover over major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo or Hong Kong, but that of Johannesburg, South Africa. After three months, the military decided to breach the sky bound vessel and discovered a race of thousands of malnourished aliens inside. These bug-like creatures, nicknamed "prawns" for their lobster-like appearance, were refugees without a home and desperately in need of assistance. With they eyes of the entire world upon them, it was up to the government of Johannesburg to provide the aliens asylum. Enlisting the aid of a private contractor known as Multi-National United, the aliens were given shelter in a quarantined slum known as 'District 9.' That was nearly three decades ago and the people of Johannesburg have become so violently incensed they are now a threat to the aliens.

The presence of the prawns has greatly changed the dynamics of society in Johannesburg. Weapons and inter-species sex trades have developed and the desperate aliens are willing to trade just about anything they have to acquire cans of cat-food which they have developed an insatiable taste for. MNU may police District 9, but they also have a hidden agenda, desiring the reproduction and marketing of alien weaponry, which at the moment can only be operated by one of them. Though their weapons are basically useless to humans, even gangs within the slums have negotiated the trade of cat-food with the prawns in the hopes of amassing their own arsenals.

With race relations at the breaking point, the government makes the decision to relocate the prawns from the filthy slum of 'District 9' to even smaller and less hospitable living conditions in another sector. One member of the task force assigned to this relocation effort is MNU bureaucrat Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), who just happens to have a documentary crew following and recording his exploits. Wikus appears to be a loyal MNU member and is more than happy to evict prawns from their homes until a major incident changes his way of thinking. When an altercation with a resistant prawn results in assault and death, Wikus is exposed to an alien liquid in a mysterious canister that begins to rapidly alter his DNA. During treatment for his wounds MNU doctors discover that not only has his arm mutated into a claw, but he is slowly changing into a prawn.

Thinking of only the prospects for their weapons division, Wikus is considered a vital asset to MNU now that he can operate alien weaponry with his newly re-written DNA. Before they can harvest his organs and essentially cut him up, Wikus escapes to find he's the most wanted man in the country, sought not only by MNU and their hired mercenaries, but gang members who believe that the voodoo practice of consuming his flesh will grant them the power to use alien weapons. His only friends now appear to be the aliens he once policed inside of 'District 9.'

'District 9' sounds like a story where an individual gets his comeuppance by going on the run with the very people he once hunted, but it has so much more depth. For starters, Wikus is not a likable guy when we first meet him. In fact he comes across as more of an idiot, given a life-threatening position and title by a father-in-law who thinks little of him. He has no shame in participating and rounding up these aliens and evicting them from their "homes" until he sees the big picture. While in MNU custody, Wikus is not only forced to operate alien weaponry, but use a live prawn as target practice. On top of that the very people he worked for appear to have been experimenting on the aliens for years in the hopes of harvesting their DNA for weapons use. It still takes Wikus some time to get the big picture even when he takes refuge with a prawn known as "Christopher Johnson". Johnson is a scientist with a young son, who planned to use the liquid Wikus was exposed to as fuel to return to the mothership. He can only cure Wikus with medical tools aboard the ship and the only way they can get the canister of liquid is by breaking back into MNU.

Like many of the alien prawns in the film, Christopher and his son are CGI creations animated by Jackson's f/x facility Weta Digital. Though the film has been given a budget of thirty million dollars, Blomkamp wisely makes the choice of not making the f/x look too real or fancy. The picture begins with a documentary hand-held camera feel, before resorting to traditional techniques as the scope of the story expands. The alien technology has a realistic and gritty feel to it, presented almost as an homage to the stop-motion creations of yesteryear rather than slick or smooth. In the action scenes, even the weaponry has a visceral impact causing targets to explode in a manner you might find in a video game like 'Halo'. These aspects of the visuals indeed look cool, but a major feat is the animation of the prawns who despite the fact that they appear as vicious warrior-type bugs, convey a sense of emotion almost human. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul and like E.T., Yoda and other artificial movie creatures, the prawns of 'District 9' make us believe they are sensitive, intelligent, sentient beings with their magnificent large eyes. It's easy to forget that their dialogue is subtitled, because the animation involved in their expressions and interaction with Wikus and other humans is so realistic.

At the heart of 'District 9' is a story with a running theme that parallels apartheid in South Africa. Blomkamp is not out to school or beat us over the head with his message, always serving up entertaining bits within his complex story. The film raises more questions than answers, leaving many of them unanswered by the end credits, but the fact that its a picture that asks you to think, disguised as an action movie is a pleasant and welcome surprise. As the central character, Copley does show his limitations as an actor playing an individual who is initially an unlikable idiot. In due time, his performance improves as does the awareness of Wikus who takes part in a world greater than himself and ultimately achieves some form of redemption.