Alienation at its Best

There are a lot of crummy jobs at Comic-Con – bathroom custodian, nerd-ogled booth babe, security detail for Twilight cast members, furry wrangler, etc. – but the worst one of this past year had to be standing around in full riot gear under the sweltering San Diego sun to promote District 9. During most of the day, there were a couple “troops” “stationed” outside a huge MNU military vehicle painted white with the now-familiar no aliens symbol on it – you know, the one featuring an E.T. with a red line though it that’s on seemingly every bus stop. Clad in black, those sweaty faux soldiers must’ve been paid handsomely to endure those conditions. Sony has pumped a lot of money into promoting the film, and you gotta wonder if there’s something more to the hype.

Turns out, the answer is yes, as District 9 is not just one of the best films of the year, it’s also one of the best sci-fi films of the past decade. More on that shortly, but first some background.

Director Neill Blomkamp, originally from Johannesburg, was working in Vancouver, doing music videos, T.V. commercials (including this well-known one for Nike) and making a name for himself as a CGI artist. He also made a short called Alive in Joberg, which was shot in the slums of Johannesburg, in the style of a documentary piece, about aliens who had come to Earth and were forced to live in ghettoes, where they were persecuted. The metaphor for apartheid was clear.

The film got him noticed by Peter Jackson, who was looking for someone to direct the Halo video game adaptation that he was producing. Blomkamp moved to New Zealand to mentor under Jackson and work on the film, making some Halo shorts for Microsoft in the process. But, after a period of intensive pre-production, the project – a collaboration between Universal, Fox and Microsoft – fell apart. Blomkamp and Jackson moved on. As they explained at the Comic-Con press conference, Jackson still wanted to produce a feature for the young director, so he did. Blomkamp went to South Africa and shot District 9 (with some interiors shot in New Zealand) while Jackson shot his upcoming feature The Lovely Bones.

OK, so back to the film itself. It’s co-written by Blomkamp and one Terri Tatchell, and stars Sharlto Copely (who’s also in Alive on Joberg) as Wikus Van De Merwe, a not-so-bright but enthusiastic management type tasked with clearing out District 9. Also known as “D-9,” the fenced-in ghetto is populated by insect-like aliens (and some opportunistic Nigerian gangsters). The film begins as a mockumentary and explains that the aliens came to Earth 30 years earlier and parked their ship over Johannesburg. When the military stormed the ship, they found that the creatures’ leaders had died and the remaining drones were starving to death Although initially embraced by humanity, they eventually wore out their welcome and were placed in the D-9 shantytown and their care was contracted out to MNU, a weapons manufacturer mainly interested in trying to make their powerful DNA-activated weaponry useful to mankind. MNU stooge Wilkus, who’s married to his boss’ daughter, is put in charge of evicting all of the aliens so they can be relocated to an alien refugee camp. In the process, an accident alters his DNA making him an outcast sought after by MNU, which realizes he’s the key to unlocking the weaponry. Desperate and hunted, Wikus retreats into D-9.

You’ve heard many a time that science fiction is really about the present, and this is true for District 9, which is critical of the corporate power, media control and the weapons industry, but it’s mainly about the near-past, namely a South Africa under apartheid. The best part about the film is that it makes the serious metaphor the core of the narrative and then goes on to give you all fun things you want in a sci-fi/action movie – while maintaining a balance between the two.

Fun thing one are the aliens; Blomkamp’s creature design is original. Despite their insect appearance, he manages to humanize them, and make them fairly amusing at times (e.g their insane love of cat food). Even better, technically the CG is perfect, which sucks you further into the world of District 9. The animation never calls attention to itself (Weta, the effects company that headed up The Lord of the Rings trilogy, nailed the practical effects, as well).

Fun thing two: the action. District 9 has fistfights, gunfights, car chases, an aircraft chase and havoc-causing mech suits – yes ARMOURED MECH SUITS, which is like catnip for sci-fi geeks. Blomkamp’s love of video games is apparent here, as many of the sequences play out like first-person shooter scenarios, which works with the documentary aesthetic.

The third really fun thing about District 9 is that it doesn’t shy away from blood, guts and gross stuff. There are guys literally blown to bits by the awesome alien weaponry (another video game influence), some really disgusting alien autopsy-type stuff and, of course, Wikus’ transformation.

Lastly in the fun file, District 9, presents us with an entirely new world, where familiar sci-fi tropes, such as fantastic alien creatures and futuristic technology, is wrapped in a filthy, nightmarish ghetto. Like groundbreaking sci-fi films such as Metropolis, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Blade Runner or Serenity, this is gives us a never before seen environment.

All too often Hollywood sci-fi movies nail the special effects, action and other eye-candy but pay little attention to character, story and dialogue. Aside from a child-alien, which is borderline cutesy cheese, District 9, tells a tight story, with more humour (and horror) than you’d expect.

Blomkamp, was expectedly nervous about the film when asked about it at Comic-Con, but he’ll probably feel just fine when his feature debut proves to be a hit. In summer of big budget tech-centered crapathons such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe and Terminator: Salvation, audiences deserve something, thoughtful, original and thrilling as District 9. And it’s satisfying to see Sony get so behind the film – even it does mean staring at those posters every damn time you wait for the bus.

The movie is worth the sweat put into it, and I’m not just talking about the sun-scorched actors at Comic-Con.

 

-Dave Alexander