Film Review : District 9

This film comes with the legend "Peter Jackson Presents...." and as a lover of what he did with the Lord Of The Rings that was more than enough to guarantee my presence to see this at the earliest opportunity.

The premise of the film is that an alien ship comes to Earth and comes to a halt hovering over Johannesburg in South Africa. The occupants do come down but are herded into what ends up as a ghetto. After a couple of years, a decision is made to move the aliens to another site to take them away from the urban sprawl and the story tells the tale of the man appointed to lead the team after he has become infected by exposure to an alien liquid discovered during the team's searches.

One of the great strengths of the movie is that the theme of apartheid is ever-present but without being explicitly made. The parallels between the townships and the alien ghetto, together with the prejudice shown towards South Africa's majority population and the aliens (referred to as "prawns") are obvious and any overplaying of this would have been to the movie's detriment.

The film is presented with news and commentary throughout to place what happens in its wider perspective and works very effectively. The opening scene uses this to cover the appearance of the alien mothership and the history behind the creation of District 9 which takes you straight into the narrative having effectively filled out the required back story.

Sharlito Copley is excellent in the lead role of Wikus van de Merwe who is selected to manage the migration. He is a family man, but his position is complicated by his family connections as his father in law is a senior employee of the company responsible for the move. This inevitably plays out as the film progresses.

He tries to deal with the "prawns" in a manner which must have been reminiscent of earlier times in South Africa - a patronising approach but with the certainty that there is no option but to move, with the inevitable consequences that a refusal will bring.

The aliens are well-represented and integrate well into the surroundings - there's none of the usual sniggering that can take place when the humans and aliens share screen time. And as the film progresses, when Wikus has to fight alongside the aliens to protect himself, the emotional connection gets stronger as well.

This is a gripping tale and one that leaves room for a follow up should it be successful. I think that latter point is already taken as having been proven. The interesting thing is that there are a number of avenues that a sequel could take.

What is also clear is that director Neill Blomkamp (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is a man of considerable talent and on the basis of this film will be worth watching for in the future.