District 9 review

 Number 329 on the top 1000 films of all time is the South African, science fiction action thriller: District 9.

In 1980's South Africa, an alien spaceship appears over Johannesburg. The alien inhabitants, only known by the human moniker of 'Prawn,' are rounded up into a shanty town known as District 9. Thirty years later, humanity has had enough of these aliens, whom they see as nothing more than thieves and liars, and demand their relocation. Heading this up is bureaucrat Wikus Van Der Mer We (Sharlton Copley) who befriends a Prawn called Christopher Johnson who is trying to return home with his son.

There is no denying that we are a tribal species. We are afraid of the unknown and sometimes that fear can turn into anger, as an us vs them mentality takes over. This is a theme that's been tackled many times before, but nothing about District 9 felt cliched or hackneyed. Having the "other," so to speak, being an insectoid alien was a refreshing way of engaging with this time.

District 9 is a very obvious allegory of South African apartheid. And the metaphor helped to keep the message pertinent. Wikus was a likeable protagonist starting off as a hapless, ineffectual bureaucrat and becoming an unlikely hero. After being exposed to a mysterious alien liquid, he begins mutating into one of them. This brings him to the attention of the shadowy MNU - a weapons technology who want to dissect him. They believe he holds the answer to helping humans to operate the alien weaponry. Vikus escapes and later connects with Christopher Johnson.

Sharlton Copley was very good considering that he had no formal acting experience. This was even more impressive considering that he improvised most of his dialogue. I did enjoy how he didn't fulfil a reluctant or even unlikely hero archetype. At many times he isn't heroic but cowardly. He helps Christopher Johnson, not out of altruism, but for the purely selfish reason of wanting to be transformed back into a human. But this flaw made him classically human. And he overcomes this flaw to become a hero.

And although the Prawns were little more than CGI animations they felt real. Just like humans, they weren't all the same. Some like Christopher Johnson were only trying to protect their family while others were criminals and miscreants. And the fact that we learn nothing about them except for how humans perceive them only makes them the more empathetic. You realise that there is more to them than meets the eye.

If the film falls down anywhere, it would be with the villains who were generic and superficial. The head mercenary Colonel Koobus (David James) was little more than your shouty, run-of-the-mill bad guy. He evens falls into the classic "I'm going to monologue before I kill the hero instead of killing him" cliche, which results in the Prawns catching and dismembering him. And Nigerian crime lord Obesadnjo (Eugene Wanagwa Khumbanyiwa) wasn't developed enough to be menacing. I also don't understand why Wikus would still love his wife after she betrays him to her father, who is the managing director of MNU, but I guess love is blind.

Ultimately, this was a great film. I enjoyed it immensely. It was a brilliant morality tale in how our own hatred and fear of the 'other' can tear us apart.