Filed under: Sci-Fi
In a world like today’s (albeit with aliens) how will the media oversimplify complex class struggles? The answer: District 9. News footage and interviews tell of the day twenty years ago when an alien mother ship came to a halt right over Johannesburg, South Africa. A human recovery crew enters the ship and discovers an ill-kept alien race, clearly abandoned without any hope of survival. These supposed millions of aliens (although at most a dozen are ever shown on-screen at one time) are relocated to an internment camp in Johannesburg, and segregated from mainstream society. The story picks up in the present day, when multinational company peon, Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is appointed head of relocating said alien threat to a new camp a few miles outside of the city. The bumbling Wikus talks of his job with pride and fulfills his duties with a comically misguided zeal. After exposure to an alien contaminant, Wikus becomes an invaluable asset in alien research, and is subjected to a battery of increasingly inhuman tests by his corporation. A good while after it has become obvious to the viewer, Wikus suddenly realizes that those strapping him to a table and preparing to dissect him are evil. How does the decidedly timid Wikus respond? He spontaneously transforms into Rambo. From this moment on he exhibits a warrior spirit that completely defeats the purpose of establishing him as an antihero in the first place. He might not have the best aim, but regardless he throws himself into battles with a fearlessness completely uncharacteristic of his previously established character. Every massive character change in the movie is completely based around a turning point that might last all of two seconds. There is never any sense of building motivations or mounting change. This gives Wikus’ character a bipolar quality that makes his motivations too convoluted to relate to.
District 9 starts with an incredible original documentary feel. Exposition is revealed via interviews and shown in clips compiled from fake news footage. Eventually, the movie takes on a Cops feel, as a cameraman trails the characters as they explore the alien camp. Unfortunately, as the movie progresses, this documentary footage is replaced by very standard action cinematography on regular film. Whereas the presence of the news crews or surveillance cameras fit into the narrative style, the sudden apparition of an omnipotent camera simply doesn’t fit. Whenever interviews suddenly come back on the screen, it becomes terribly ambiguous what the film is trying to be. Cutting between surveillance footage and regular camera work similarly makes no sense. Within the first half hour, the Cops vibe is gone, and the presence of a film crew ceases to be justified or explainable.
Redemption seems to be a central theme of District 9. The lead character is essentially an oppressor, then because of situations beyond his control he must ally with the oppressed against the oppressors he previously belonged to. This device has been used countless times. Unfortunately, this time it is completely missing any contemplation, and therefore any potential pathos. At the beginning of the movie is a scene where Wikus happily destroys an entire nest of alien larvae. After he has “seen the light,” there is never again any mention of his past sins. He fights with the aliens out of necessity, and it’s very obvious that he hates doing it. There really isn’t any redemption for Wikus. There is only convenience and Sun Tzu’s principle: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Any film about internment camps is obviously going to have some type of political message. I believe the entirety of District 9’s political message is summed up by a quick comment from an interview early on: “If [the aliens] were from another country, we’d understand.” I get it. They’re aliens. But they’re people too. There’s no statement really here to make, aside from the obvious, “discrimination is bad.” Ideally, writer-director Neill Blomkamp could have extrapolated and gone on to explore such complex ideas as the necessity of repression for the effective policing of certain groups, or even shown more (or any) of the alien backlash, or even actually show their “dehumanizing.” At most, there were a few “no aliens allowed” signs, but no real interactions between mainstream humanity and the aliens were shown. A few testimonials at most were meant to convey any possible message the film had. (Unsubstantial as it might have been.)
District 9 is actually based on a six and a half minute short film from 2005 written and directed by Blomkamp. Alive in Joburg has a nearly identical setup, but uses its limited time to interpolate on a modern apartheid that is revealed by the narrative completely in medias res. Incorporating these themes into a sci-fi movie is an incredibly original idea, and provides a new take on a story that’s been around since H.G. Wells first published The War Of The Worlds, 111 years ago. It’s a tragedy that District 9 just devolves into yet another overblown action cliché. Each chase scene alternates with a firefight, and they seem to occur on such a smoothly planned rail. In a tight spot, a character glances over to a table, grabs a conveniently placed bomb, and blows out a wall that happens to lead to a parking garage. Endless climaxes make way for increasingly comical escalation. By the movie’s end, our once lovely dimwit is in a conveniently found mechanical exoskeleton, fighting off a dozen bald tan men with machine guns. A nice, entirely human antihero was established, only to be lost amid an orgy of blood and brain remnants splattering onto the camera lens.
-Paul Brinnel
