District 9 Review

District 9 (in my humble opinion) is hands down, the best sci-fi movies of the decade (or at least for now, that may change when James Cameron’s Avatar comes out in December).

Set in Johannesburg, South Africa (which makes a nice change from NY, LA or Chicago) and directed by joBerg native Neil Blomkamp, the movie puts a new and unexpected twist on the venerable alien invasion saga. Instead of aliens turning up, intent on invading our planet by any means, the aliens of District 9 arrive disheveled, mal nourished and in desperate need of help.

Shot in a raw documentary style, the movie reflects the way refugees are treated across the world. Placed into a large militarized camp, the aliens are degraded to sub-human levels, where they become bottom feeding scavengers living in shanty style shacks. The locals soon assign the derisive name “Prawns” to the bug like creatures, which in turn draws parallels with the apartheid days, when the derisive Keffa was the local’s word of choice for describing other so-called undesirables. The film is laced with social-political statements from start to finish ranging from racism (or in this case speciesism) and discrimination to plain old greed and corruption, all of which unfolds beautifully throughout the film. Not necessarily subtly, but certainly with impact.

The (human) lead “Wikus van der Merwe” is played by newcomer Sharlto Copley, whose previous credits have always been on the other side of the camera, namely as a producer, writer and director. Shartlo gave Neil his first job at age 15, a favor Neil wanted to repay by giving Shartlo the lead (human) role. Shatrlo puts in an astounding performance, proving that you don’t need to be a name to carry a film. His character, Wikus van der Merwe, is an MNU (Multi-National United) exec who bares more than a passing resemblance to Peter Seller’s bumbling Inspector Clouseau. Thrown in at the deep-end, he flails and fails, creating chaos along the way. While not fundamentally evil, his self-serving ways eventually enrage you as your love/hate relationship for this character develops.

As the alien camp (controlled and policed by MNU) grows and the aliens start breeding, the humans start turning against them. Stores and bars put up “no non-human” signs (remind you of anything?) and the camp becomes ever more ghettoized. Eventually it becomes too big to be sustainable; that, combined with the public pressure, drives a relocation program to move the aliens well away from the city where they will have no more contact with its people.

Bumbling Wikus is assigned to evict the aliens, and rather than delegating the role, decides to take it on himself. During the evictions, Wikus gets doused with an alien liquid that triggers a transformation, blending his human DNA with that of the aliens. What ensues thereafter is harrowing, inspiring, funny and sad all at once. But I won’t spoil any more of the story for you.

The movie was produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, whose production company WingNut Films lent their technical expertise to create a film that while looking raw, gritty and realistic, has an amazing level of polish and contains some of the best CG to grace the silver screen to date.

All in all District 9 is a fantastic film that reinvents the genre and delivers a strong social commentary, the likes of which has not been seen in a Hollywood blockbuster for a looooong time, and deserves a place in the hall of fame of all time sci-fi classics.

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Yannick Lord is a Los Angeles based Fashion, Glamour, Commercial and Lifestyle photographer with a passion for music, art, design, entertainment and technology. please feel free to explore these pages for more news, reviews and of course, my photography.