Sometimes the best way to describe a situation is to come at it from the side. Rather than comment directly on what is happening, use an allegory to describe a situation and discuss it. Such is the case with DISTRICT 9.
Set in the not too distant future, the story is pieced together at first via news footage and interviews, later on depending on the standard filmed story. An alien spaceship hovers over South Africa, motionless in the air. A team is dispatched to enter the vessel and they discover a breed of alien that seems a cross between an insect and a crawfish.
Called prawns due to their bottom feeding nature of scavenging for food, the folks of Johannesburg treat the aliens with a combination of fear and resentment. The story continues as we learn of the aliens settling into an encampment of their own, a shanty town that houses both aliens and a group of Nigerian thugs who trade weapons and run their own crime ring out of District 9.
Enter Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an employee of MNU (Multi National United). A Halliburton type group of weapons dealing/mercenary styled executives, they’ve employ both soldiers and Wikus types, office workers who believe in what their doing with no clue what goes on behind the scenes. Wikus is put in charge of a plan to relocate the “prawns” from the shanty town they’re in to a new location built with huts for them all.
Going door to door to get their required signatures for the eviction notices, Wikus and his group face everything from attack to verbal confrontation with the “prawns”. Unbeknownst to him, one alien is in the midst of formulating fuel to power a shuttlecraft to leave the planet. Wikus confiscates the fuel but accidentally is exposed to it. As the film progresses, Wikus personal DNA begins to alter and he starts to take on the aspects of the aliens, watching as first his hand changes into a claw and moving forward.
Of course MNU sees this as an opportunity since the weapons they confiscated from the aliens won’t work when held by a human. It seems there is something in the genetic make up of the aliens that causes the weapons to work. Wikus becomes a guinea pig of sorts, used to make the weapons work and kept away from friends and family in a science outpost.
Fearing for his life, Wikus escapes and seeks out the alien he encountered with the vial of fuel for help. He discovers what it was that changed him but also the fact that the only fuel left, the only way for him to receive help, is to recapture the fuel container at the research station he was in.
Should the pair be successful, Wikus may be able to be changed back, the alien return to his home world with his young son and the “prawns” finally be treated as something other than outcasts. A battle between the mercenaries employed by MNU and Wikus in a souped up mechanical suit add some action to the tale as we wait to find out what the future holds for all involved.
The story about the mistreatment of those that are different from us is universal to every country in the world. Perhaps that accounts for the popularity of this film when it was released. As Wikus becomes one of them, he is exposed to their treatment and how they are perceived. By becoming one with them, he learns in the process and his outlook on his life and the world around him changes.
As with all great science fiction films, the story is the centerpiece but the surrounding portions add to the whole. The special effects are magnificent, offering us a look at an alien life form that looks as if it is right there, shot on camera without the use of effects. It makes the story all the more believable. And the performances by stars that are relatively unknown in the US make them seem real as well. While grounded in sci-fi, the film makes it seem as if it’s taking place now.
Slow going at first, we are given a look at a world we think we known inhabited by creatures we do not. It takes a bit of time to learn about them as well as about ourselves. And in the end, the story we witness makes us think a little bit more about how we react to others. At least let’s hope that those who see the film do.
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