District 9 Review

Watched the sci-fi movie District 9 last week, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It's really an alternative kind of sci-fi with underlying social issues, although with plenty of 'action.' Set in South Africa, aliens 'crash landed' there decades ago and all of them wounded up in a ghetto (mostly because of their behavior and apparent unwillingness to adapt). A multinational corporation (MNU) is tasked with handling the alien situation although their main interest lies in discovering the secrets of alien tech, caring for the 'Prawns' is secondary. Wikus van de Merwe, a MNU employee is tasked with evacuating district 9 and relocating the 'Prawns' to district 10, far away from the city of Johannesburg. Accidentally Wikus gets exposed to an alien virus which slowly transforms his genetic code. When MNU finds out Wikus can operate alien weaponry (which only operates in alien hands), the hunt is on.

The film initially begins in 'documentary style' but later on also switches to 'cinematic.' In the beginning the aliens, referred to as 'the Prawns', are put in a bad light. They have no concept of property so they roam through the streets taking whatever they want and generally behaving badly. In that documentary kind of way it makes sense that the Prawns were put in a ghetto. However, later on in the film you get the sense that humans aren't one hair better because of all the atrocities they make, against the aliens but also against their fellow man. The motive being greed.
This sci-fi flick is different in some ways. The setting is in South Africa which had its share of societal upheaval, from that perspective the ghetto & aliens act like a mirror to the times of apartheid and poverty in general. The South African element provides an entirely different flavor to the standard sci-fi from the U.S. or U.K. The aliens in the movie basically act just like humans when you really think about it. Maybe that's what the film makers had in mind, I don't know. If you love sci-fi (with a message), than this is a film for you. I give it 8 out of 10.