Alien immigration

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2010)

Try picturing this: you're a visual effects artist and aspiring filmmaker, and your work has caught the right person's eye, so much that said person gives you the chance to direct a highly anticipated video game-based movie. For various reasons, the project falls apart, but instead of leaving you empty-handed, that same person gives you a useful sum of money to make any picture you want. Doesn't happen every day, does it? Which is what makes District 9 such a terrific achievement: shot for only 30 million dollars after the proposed Halo film was shelved, it was made simply because producer Peter Jackson (yes, the man who made a certain Oscar-winning trilogy) believed in the talent of first-time director Neill Blomkamp. The finished product proves his faith wasn't misplaced.
Based on Blomkamp's earlier short film, Alive in Joburg, the movie's faux-documentary storytelling focuses on a tricky situation taking place in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa: for twenty years, a spaceship has been standing still in the sky above the city, while the aliens that came with it are forced to live in a slum called District 9. Cruelly mocked by the locals, who call them "prawns", the only reason they are still alive and well is they possess technology the army and the MNU (Multi-National United) find interesting. One day, however, the creatures are meant to be evicted, and during the procedure one particularly ambitious but dimwitted MNU employee, Wikus van der Werve (Sharlto Copley), is infected with a substance that slowly starts transforming him into an alien. As his condition worsens, he must collaborate with the "prawns" if he ever wishes to become normal again.
What strikes the most about District 9 is that, unlike most science fiction films, it focuses on ideas rather than impressive effects: undoubtedly due in part to the low budget, this enables Blomkamp to deliver an anti-blockbuster that is really about people, not aliens. Following his own Alive in Joburg template, he goes for a hand-held, gritty, fast-paced style and chose to shoot the entire film on location in his home town for a very specific reason: look past the fact that the slum is inhabited by extra-terrestrials, and this could easily be a documentary about life during apartheid (something Blomkamp experienced). The use of science fiction as an allegory isn't anything new (after all, the word "alien" derives from the Latin "alienus", which means "other" or "different"), but in the decrepit locales of District 9 it becomes frighteningly real. The unique setting is also a refreshing change of scenery after countless UFO stories set in America (remember the gag in Monsters vs. Aliens?).
Another kicker, perhaps more impressive than the bold screenplay and direction, is Copley's central performance, and not just because his character undergoes a truly moving, Cronenbergian transformation (echoes of The Fly are evident throughout). No, the astonishing thing about his work is that, for one thing, he'd never acted before (minus a cameo as a sniper in Alive in Joburg), and, on top of it all, he improvised every single line, which explains why, like in Judd Apatow's body of work, every other sentence is deliciously profane (and the South African accent makes it even funnier). And for those worrying about the budget's impact on any set-pieces, rest assured: Wikus's metamorphosis from human to alien is matched by the film's move to recognizable sci-fi elements (although still done intelligently), including a climactic battle that is scaled down compared to, say, Transformers, but pretty spectacular nonetheless (not to mention refreshingly bloody).
In short, District 9 is a miracle of sorts: a small sci-fi movie that thinks big, delivering the goods whilst keeping its focus firmly on storytelling and thematic relevance first, and action second. A stunning piece of work.