Movie of the Week: District 9

Forget the “Transformers” sequel or “G.I. Joe,” the latest action-packed sci-fi thriller to hit cinema screens is the shocking and superb drama “District 9.” With its incredibly powerful story paired with some staggeringly realistic and gory special effects, producer Peter Jackson has gleefully come full circle in this return to his beloved splatter turf.

Perhaps you’ll remember that before Jackson directed the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, during the late eighties he brought us such grisly, black comedic delights as “Bad Taste” and “Brain Dead.” Jackson turned the directing duties over to Neill Blomkamp on this one, from a screenplay Blomkamp wrote with Terri Tatchell, based on his own racially segregated childhood. The result is a hard-hitting and scathing satire that contains one of the most engrossing and personal struggles we’ve seen in ages.

The spaceship that brought the "District 9" aliens to Earth.

Recalling the human rights violations and atrocities of the apartheid era in South Africa – the blatant references to the slums of Soweto are inescapable – “District 9” begins with a city in crisis.

Using TV newscasts and documentary-style footage, including talking heads who explain the scenario, we learn that thirty years previously a giant alien spaceship came to earth and parked itself in the skies over Johannesburg – South Africa’s largest and most populated city. For three months the world waited to see what would happen. When nothing did, a scientific and military team was sent in to make first contact. What the investigating crew found was, in essence, a million malnourished refugees of an unknown species.

Attempts to provide sanctuary and sustenance for all these repulsive, creepy-looking aliens (callously nicknamed “prawns”) soon turned problematic, with the government-provided temporary housing rapidly devolving into vast tracts of slums and garbage. Forced to scavenge for scarce food, and reviled by the locals, the aliens were soon exploited by criminal and superstitious Nigerians.

Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is a cheerful and gullible bureaucrat responsible for overseeing the relocation of the now 1.8 million alien refugees to a new camp, situated well away from the townspeople of Johannesburg. When Wikus and the military enforcers encounter an alien with the scientific skills and ingenuity to escape Earth, Wikus soon finds himself on the other side of the law.

Sharlto Copley as Wikus van der Merwe gets manhandled in "District 9."

“District 9” is an intensely human story set within a sci-fi action/drama shell that is really a look at the world’s all-too-familiar recurring real-life story of callous and brutal human rights violations, past and present.

An almost relentlessly grim view of the darkest, most hateful, and murderous facets of humanity, and so much more than your average bug-hunt gorefest, “District 9” is one of this summer’s best movies. Don’t miss this powerful and sobering drama.

Rated: R
Stars: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood
Director: Neill Blomkamp

Official Site: http://www.d-9.com/

[Pauline Adamek is a Hollywood-based film, theatre and food critic who files for “FilmInk Australia,” the “LA Daily News,” “Sun Community Newspapers,” as well as various websites under the “nom du net” Max Million.]