Welcome to Johannesburg in the near future, where it has already been 20 years since the mother ship of an alien species reminiscent of giant lobsters has been hovering over the city. Nobody knows why the ship landed above Johannesburg (it surely is a nice change that it isn't New York or Los Angeles). All that's known is that the aliens have run out of their special fuel and that they're stuck on mother Earth. They don't have any specific plans, and it turns out that they're a race of worker bees used to taking orders, not your “typical” hyper-intelligent third kind. There is a catch, though; they have brought with them technologically advanced super weapons that us earthlings want to get our hands on, but even if we do, we can't work them since the appliances only seem to work by the touch of creatures that are embedded with alien DNA.The first half of the film is pricelessly creative in giving us a picture of the situation as it takes the form of a documentary in explaining its story. Interviews with sociologists, specialists and normal civilians inter-cut with images from daily Jo'burg life tell us what's really going on with the inter-species relationships, and it's not pretty; the aliens, pejoratively nicknamed “prawns,” are considered third-class citizens and have been allocated into a slum settlement called District 9. Does the situation seem at all familiar? It wouldn't be a surprise to anyone that this documentary segment disguised as social commentary is none but a metaphor of South Africa's continuing issues with apartheid, despite the fact that it was removed 20 years ago. Even more frightening is that, in the course of the film, we watch an alien riot which leads the South African government to decide upon the relocation of the 1-million-strong alien population to a “sanctuary home,” which of course is a modern version of a Nazi concentration camp.
In comes our hapless character Wikas Van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a regular Joe working for the MNU, a government appointed paramilitary agency “taking care” of the alien issue and secretly experimenting with alien weaponry. With a massive team of civilians and army officials, Wikas enters the slums to get the signatures for the alien housing relocations, only to stumble upon a fluid in an alien household (that is headed by a science geek alien who has ominously taken the name of Christopher Johnston) which turns out to be the source of everything imaginable -- Wikas' demise and the fluid to resurrect the mother ship. At this point, the film transforms into the full-on thriller genre which evokes the energy of Paul Verhoeven's gruesomely entertaining “Starship Troopers.” The fluid causes Wikas to slowly metamorphose into one of the insect aliens (a bit of Kafka sprinkling), and an unexpected alliance forms between Wikas, who is now not the oppressor but the oppressed, and the alien Christopher. Christopher can transform Wikas back into human form and Wikas can help Christopher retrieve the fluid which is now confiscated by MNU, which is getting ready for world domination since the fluid is also the key to using the advanced alien weaponry.
“District 9” is one of the most innovative and thrilling films of the year. Some audiences might find its bloodbath of a second half appalling; however, the film implies so much more than a brainless aliens vs. humans narrative in its seamless blending of documentary and action genre that its proximity to the current global disposition of poverty and racism is spot on while frightening. Yes, the aliens portrayed are extremely ugly, primitive and crass and have no characteristics that create a channel for empathy, but the human cruelty imposed on them is even more devastating and enough to make the audience take their side. And it's a welcoming change to watch a film where aliens are not planning world domination, but their human counterparts will go to all lengths, including horrific genetic experiments to take control over what is already theirs.
Director Blomkamp is definitely a name to watch out for in the coming years. His spontaneity and cutthroat realism bring us a visual style that makes us contemplate our humanity and the world's socioeconomic crisis from a completely new angle. Oh, and did I mention that the film is produced by none other than Peter Jackson?
Benzer Haberler 
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