District 9

Movie: District 9

I saw it on: August 17, 2009

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood, Mandla Gaduka

Runtime: 113 min

Synopsis: The movie takes place in 2010.  Twenty years earlier, with no warning, an alien spaceship the size of the one from Independence Day showed up over Johannesburg.  For three months the alien ship hovered in place with no communication.  Finally, humans forced their way into the ship and discovered horde of starving aliens.  They look like 7-foot insects that walk on their hind legs.  They evacuate the aliens to a large segregated camp known as District 9.  The aliens are called “Prawns” – a derogatory reference to what they resemble. 

After twenty years, the alien spaceship still hovers over Johannesburg.  District 9 is an overcrowded slum.  Conditions are deplorable.  The government uses a company called Multi-National United (MNU) to oversee and manage District 9.  Nigerian gangsters have moved in.  The Nigerians collect alien weapons (which are unusable by humans) and sell the aliens cat food.  They also provide the aliens with cross-species prostitutes – something I was grateful they did not expand on.  The Prawns have a strange craving for cat food and will go to great lengths to acquire it. 

The humans have decided to relocate the Prawns to a more remote spot.  MNU is directing the relocation effort.  The MNU employee put in charge is Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley).  He may not be as qualified as he should – but he is the CEO’s son-in-law.  Wikus is not used to field work and quickly runs into trouble.  His problems really intensify when an alien substance that starts transforming him into a prawn contaminates him.  Now the MNU is after him to use him as a guinea pig for use of the alien weapons and the Nigerians are after him so they can use eat his arm to gain his alien power – all while he is trying to help one of the aliens.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  I understand that much of the movie was based on the director’s childhood in South Africa during apartheid.  According to a Time Magazine article, the name “District 9” is based on an actual District Six that existed in Johannesburg during apartheid.  In the 60’s, the government decided to make District Six “whites-only” and forcibly evicted 60,000 non-whites.

The movie’s shooting style reminded me of Cloverfield.  I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.  Early on, I was sympathetic toward the MNU and thought the Prawns were pretty disgusting.  The more I learned, the more my sympathies switched.  There is a very compelling father-son (or mother-son, I couldn’t tell which) relationship – something tough to get across with 7-foot insects who talk by clicking, eat garbage and like to kill humans.  Once Wikus starts his transformation into a Prawn, he was able to fire the alien weapons.  This leads to some pretty spectacular battles with the MNU personnel.

I thought the ending was very good.  Definitely a movie worth seeing.  Be forewarned - there is a lot of messy violence and some disturbing scenes of torture.