District 9
Review
Morgan Beale
Department of Genetics
It is 20 years since first contact - since the alien mothership parked in the airspace over Johannesburg, and
the benevolent human interventionists broke in to release a million refugees from its cramped confines.
Guarding the District 9 perimeter fence.
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
Now, District 9, as the ghetto established to hold
the alien refugees was called, has become such a hot-bed of crime and inter-species discontent that its inhabitants
are to be removed to a concentration camp, euphemistically titled 'Sanctuary Park', some 200 kilometres further out
from the disgruntled people of Johannesburg.
Tasked with directing the forced resettlement is our protagonist, Vikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an affable
career-dork at Alien Affairs, itself a part of the mysterious and monolithic MNU organisation. Naturally, evicting the
aliens from their shanties rouses tensions on both sides, creating a volatile and dangerous environment.
Things begin to go badly for Vikus when he is injured by an upset 'prawn', and become worse when he is inadvertently
exposed to a potent alien fluid. This produces an infection, which begins to transform him into an alien!
Desperate for a cure, and hunted for his unique condition by the military wing of the MNU, Vikus has no choice but to
re-enter District 9, and put his prejudice to one side.
The central theme, a metamorphosis into another species induced by infection, is a common motif in many sci-fi movies. It
is true that the human body can do strange things when outside normal control. In one disorder, rampant ossification can grow
bone across the body, ultimately entombing the unfortunate inside their own chaotic skeleton. The recent case of the
'tree-man' in
Indonesia was a perfectly normal man who had an extreme reaction to the human papilloma virus, resulting in wart-like growths all
over his body, to the extent that he appeared to be covered in bark.
Wikus van der Merwe (Played by Sharlto Copley)
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
Alien DNA could quite conceivably share the same genetic code as humans, as indeed do even primitive bacteria. If this was the
case, then an alien gene transferred into a human, perhaps by retroviral transmission could hypothetically by translated into a
protein by the human cell.
However if that is the science, then having a human arm turn completely into an alien arm, including drastic skeletal reconstruction,
inside 16 hours is the fiction. Such thorough re-engineering so quickly is even less plausible than buying something from a late-night
television ad that actually works. But then again, a slow and painful change over a period of six months would not make for a very exciting
movie, would it?
And District 9 is exciting. A sense of immediacy is conveyed by the intimate and carefully crafted camerawork, and the fast-paced action
that characterises the second half of the film particularly is well executed. The special effects used are tightly integrated and add to the
film immensely; the displays of the alien weaponry that Vikus alone becomes able to use are particularly brutal.
District 9 can also be enjoyed as an allegory of racial intolerance, in particular the spectre of apartheid inevitably evoked by its
South African setting and cleverly reinforced throughout. The portrayal of the aliens as ignorant savages by the film 'documentary', as well
as the ostensibly altruistic human interventionism, is all too recognisable as being sourced from recent history. The very modern question
of how to best manage asylum seekers, and some very modern failings, are also illustrated here.
Just don't over-think the macguffin.
Morgan Beale is currently writing his thesis in Genetics and works at the
Department of Genetics.
Winners of our recent District 9 competition share their thoughts
Alistair Robinson
3rd Year BSc Student
District 9 had at its core the subjects of segregation and scientific exploitation of another race or species, in this case an alien
life form. Shot in a "documentary" style with handheld camera work, the action interspersed with interviews gave the film a realistic feel.
As always, the creature development from WETA was fantastic and it was refreshing to see a movie about alien visitation somewhere other
than the USA. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the alien weapons were awesome!
Candace Kovacevic
2nd Year BSc Student
It wasn't a typical sci-fi movie. It's worth a look, the extreme screen theatre added to the experience. The special effects were awesome.
I really enjoyed it, it exceeded my expectations.
Mark Bronsema
2nd Year BSc Student
District 9 is a movie that can be summed up by the word intriguing. Filmed in a documentary style, it engages the audience in a way which is empathetic to both human and alien. The movie tells a personal story which intrigues you to know more as the story develops. Neill Blomkamp gives SciFi a new breath of life and has created a highly successful movie.
District 9 opens Thursday 13 August 2009.
