Cat Food for Thought

Sci-fi thriller is commentary on prejudice and the human condition
by Morgan P salvo
4 stars

District 9 is much more than a sci-fi thriller. It’s an engaging mockumentary, infused with black humor, a scathing satire on 24 hr news coverage, a commentary on xenophobia, corporate greed and apartheid, all wrapped up in a full-blown action movie.
SO much work went into this movie that it’s hard to believe it was made for only $30 million. At least 10 minutes of credits are given to post production special effects teams. The beauty of D-9 is that you know that it’s high tech in every sense but comes across in such low-tech believability.
The basic plot is that an alien spacecraft inexplicably malfunctions. Left incapacitated and looming over Johannesburg, South Africa the starving aliens on board are rescued. A shantytown of corrugated metal shacks is constructed to house them, and over the next 28 years their population expands to 1.8 million. Segregation and cultural differences lead to increasing prejudice and violence between humans and aliens. The Predator-like creatures with spiny torsos and protruding mandibles are derogatorily referred to as “Prawns” and treated as an underclass.
This first 45 minutes are riveting. We are given the context through documentary style talking heads, shaky hand held cameras and subtitles for the guttural emanating of aliens. Skyscrapers’ silhouettes provide a backdrop to the miles of astonishing squalor, all beneath the ominously silent hovering spacecraft. Prawns live in slums reeking of garbage, eating cow heads and cat food (which is like a drug to them), preyed upon by Nigerian gangsters who deal mainly in weapons and prostitution that involves co-mingling humans and alien species. The government agency MNU has a plan to evict all prawns to a “nicer” more controlled camp outside Jo-Berg. By ejecting them from their homes the outfit (along with news coverage) investigates all wrong doings inside the poverty strewn shacks. Lead by Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) as newly elected head of the bureau, they serve eviction notices to the aliens door to door accompanied by military force. Wikus, with the demeanor of a '50s-era science teacher, stutters his way around, exposing for the news cameras the filth and seedy underbelly of District 9.
It's an impressive first feature for the 29-year-old Director Neill Blomkamp, who wrote the screenplay with Terri Tatchell, getting help from producer Peter Jackson. District 9 unleashes a couple of hokey turns, even a blatant Iron Man rip-off, but thankfully just as quickly it resembles Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: the Iron Man.D-9 will never be accused of unoriginality. The CGI prawns and all the special effects stay believable serving as background, while the focus remains on the story. You actually root for the underdog, boo the villains and cheer as the momentum shifts.
Copley lands the role of a lifetime as Wikus one of the most unlikely heroes on celluloid to date. This character grows in leaps and bounds: an actor’s dream come true. Copley’s facial expressions are simply amazing His ensuing metamorphosis and ability to portray so many changes is impeccable. Copley’s performance from dweeb to action hero should go down in history.
There’s a twist around midway when Blomkamp drops the docu-style and lets us follow the story at hand. What transpires is the corruption of silent politics, evil military men, mad as hell aliens, a barrage of CNN parody and a milquetoast turned Rambo. Moral themes abound, including separatism, segregation, science experiments that serve political greed and slaughter house genetic research that hinges on the stem cell sacrifice debate.
District 9 will undoubtedly spark discussions by all the bases it covers. With a vivid depiction of poverty, ignorance and ostracism, this flick instills an inspiring reflection on the human condition and all that entails including the need for blood spurting action, coming face to face with prejudice and mankind’s preposterous pseudo-attempt to change. When forced into an uneasy co-existence humans and aliens violently bring out the worst in each other, and that’s something to think about.

District 9
Starring Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Mandla Gaduka, Vanessa Haywood
Directed by Neill Blomkamp