District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp,
released August 13, 2009 internationally and August 14, 2009 in North America. It takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa. District 9 is based on
Alive in Joburg, a short film directed by Neill Blomkamp, and features Sharlto
Copley, Simon Hansen and Shanon Worley.
Plot
The film opens with a documentary-style series of
interviews that explain events that occurred twenty years prior when an alien
ship settled above Johannesburg, South Africa. After three months of speculation
as to the ship's purpose, humans cut their way in, discovering a large group of
sick and malnourished non-humans. These beings were later assessed as being
"workers", with their leadership mysteriously missing. A command module later
fell to Earth, although it was never found. The creatures, primarily referred to
as "prawns"—a derogatory reference to the Parktown prawn, a king cricket species
found in South Africa—were ultimately housed in a government camp inside
Johannesburg. Overcrowding and militarization eventually turned the area into a
slum known as District 9, and a massive black market was established between the
aliens and a group of Nigerians. A private company known as Multi-National
United (MNU), which specializes in weapons-use, eventually became in charge of
the situation in District 9.
In present day, an MNU field operative named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto
Copley) is assigned the task of relocating the 1.8 million aliens to a new
"District 10" camp located 240 km from Johannesburg, with help from private
security forces working for MNU. While inspecting a suspicious alien residence,
Wikus handles an alien device which sprays a dark liquid into his face. After
confiscating the device as evidence, he soon becomes very sick; a doctor at a
local hospital discovers his left arm has mutated into an alien appendage. Wikus
is then taken into custody by MNU, and a series of tests are performed on him,
revealing that his now-alien DNA allows him to operate alien weapons, which are
useless to humans due to their integration with alien biology. The scientists
intend to harvest Wikus' DNA so as to replicate it to allow other humans to
operate alien technology, but Wikus overpowers his captors and escapes.
Wikus seeks refuge in District 9, where he meets an alien given the name
Christopher Johnson, who is the same alien who engineered the device that
infected Wikus. This device is revealed to contain fuel that Christopher had
scavenged from various alien artifacts scattered around District 9.
Although initially hostile towards Wikus, Christopher eventually agrees to help
him reverse the genetic transformation if Wikus will retrieve the fuel from MNU
labs. Christopher promises to undo the mutation by getting Wikus aboard the
mother ship, and shows Wikus the ship's missing command module, which has been
hidden under his shack.
While attempting to buy some alien weaponry from the Nigerian gang, Wikus is
seized by the paralyzed Obesandjo's henchmen in an attempt to gain Wikus'
ability to work the weapons. He escapes taking some alien weaponry with him, and
with Christopher's help, breaks into MNU and successfully retrieves the fuel
sample. Wikus and Christopher fight their way back to District 9 and Christopher
begins preparations to leave. Christopher then tells Wikus that he must first
return to his home world to seek help for his people before he can cure Wikus, a
process that would take about three years. Frustrated, Wikus knocks Christopher
unconscious and powers up the command module with the help of Christopher's
young son. Shortly after Wikus lifts off, the MNU mercenaries destroy one of the
command module's engines with a rocket, causing it to crash land back into
District 9.
Wikus is then captured by MNU and a battle between the MNU mercenaries and
Obesandjo's gang breaks out. After a protracted firefight, the Nigerians capture
Wikus and prepare to remove his arm. Before they are able to, Christopher's son
activates the mother ship, as well as a mechanized battle suit which
autonomously slaughters Obesandjo and his men. After entering the alien battle
suit, Wikus rescues Christopher from being killed by MNU mercenaries. In the
following battle, overwhelmed by the MNU, Wikus talks Christopher into returning
to the ship without him while he creates a diversion. Christopher promises Wikus
that he will return in three years to repair his body. Christopher then boards
the command module and activates a tractor beam which returns the command module
to the mother ship. Heavily wounded, Wikus is ejected from the damaged suit and
is quickly caught by the leader (and sole survivor) of the MNU squad. Before he
can be killed, however, aliens burst out of the surrounding slums and dismember
the mercenary.
The mother ship leaves Johannesburg's sky for the first time in two decades, and
the townspeople cheer in response. The film concludes with another series of
interviews and news broadcasts, providing human opinions on the events that
unfolded. The aliens are successfully moved to District 10, which is said to
have a population of 2.5 million and growing. One of Wikus' coworkers hacks
MNU's database and publicly exposes their illegal genetic experiments. People
theorize about Wikus' fate; some believe that he left on the mother ship, while
others believe he is in hiding, or perhaps captured by the government. It is
also hypothesized that the aliens might return and declare war on humanity. A
scene with Wikus' wife reveals that a small metal flower was left on her
doorstep, which she muses may have been a gift from Wikus, who had a penchant
for handmade gifts. In the final scene, an alien with a bandaged left arm is
shown in a junk yard fashioning a flower out of scrap metal.
Apartheid references
MNU's eviction and relocation of the aliens is based on District Six, a former
inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. The district was
declared a "whites only" area by the apartheid government in 1966 and the
population of 60,000 forcibly relocated to Cape Flats, 25 kilometres away during
the following years.
Cast
- Sharlto Copley as Wikus van der Merwe
- William Allen Young as Dirk Michaels
- Robert Hobbs as Ross Pienaar
- Jason Cope
as Grey Bradnam
- Kenneth Nkosi as Thomas
- Vanessa Haywood
as Tania van der Merwe
- Nathalie Boltt
as Sarah Livingstone
- Sylvaine Strike as Dr. Katrina McKenzie
- John Summer as Les Feldman
- Nick Blake as Francois Moraneu
- Jed Brophy as James Hope
- Louis Minnaar
as Piet Smit
- Vittorio Leonardi
as Michael Bloemstein
- Marian Hooman as Sandra van der Merwe
- Mandla Gaduka as Fundiswa Mhlanga
- Johan van Schoor as Nicolas van der Merwe
- Stella Steenkamp as Phyllis Sinderson
- David James as Kobus Venter
- Tim Gordon as Clive Henderson
- Jonathan Taylor as the Doctor
Production
Development
Originally, Neill Blomkamp was contacted by Peter Jackson to direct Halo, a film
based on the video game series of the same name. When this project did not turn
out due to internal disagreements between Fox, Universal and Microsoft, Jackson
and those involved felt obligated to give Blomkamp financial support and a
chance to direct another film, and it was decided that the short film Alive in
Joburg could be expanded into a feature instead. According to Jackson,
District 9 was born "the day Halo [the film] died."
QED International fully financed the production of the independent film,
underwriting the negative cost prior to American Film Market (AFM) 2007. At AFM
2007, QED entered into a distribution deal with Sony Pictures under TriStar
Pictures for North America, all other English-language territories, Korea,
Italy, Russia and Portugal.
Effects
The alien creature visual effects were created by Image Engine in Vancouver,
Canada. Additional visual effects were created by The Embassy Visual Effects,
Zoic Studios and Peter Jackson's firm, Weta Digital.
Ritchie wanted his Holmes' costume to play against the popular image of the
character, joking "there is only one person in history who ever wore a
deerstalker". Downey selected the character's fedora. The director kept to the
tradition of making Holmes and Watson's apartment quite messy, and had it
decorated with artifacts and scientific objects from the continents they would
have visited.
Marketing campaign
The film relies heavily on viral marketing to
build interest. Among the techniques used are an immersive website and posters
in various cities on bus stops. The first widespread use of this marketing
tactic for this film occurred at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con. A large protest
rally against the film's "non-human" race was staged at the convention center,
going so far as to declare certain restrooms and exhibition halls for "humans
only".
One of the official websites for the film, D-9.com, is "run" by Multinational
United (MNU), a fictitious company from the film. After a 32-second MNU "safety
alert" promoting the site and a phone number, the website presents the viewer
with a short instructional video and two options: enter the site as human or
"non-human" (the film's cultural reference for "alien," and an echo of the use
of "non-white" on signs in apartheid-era South Africa).
The narrative tone of the human version of the website is calm and appealing,
while the narrative tone for the non-human version is forceful and commanding.
The map provided for the human version is mostly blue with very few restricted
zones. The map provided for the non-human version, however, shows the majority
of the map to be restricted. In addition, jobs are offered to both humans and
non-humans by entering an "access code". The human access code is "careers", the
non-human code is "labor". Additionally, "christopher" and "target" can be
entered to access downloadable content.There are also certain phrases and names
(such as Peter Jackson, Jason Cope, August 14, and for Non Humans, help and
kill) that when entered into the bar for access codes that will bring up alerts
saying you have "violated" MNU code. A voice will tell you your actions are
being "monitered" by MNU and you are directed to Multinationalunited.com. The
non-human site is written in an alien script, providing an option to "translate
to English." The human website does not provide a link to translate English to
the alien script.
MNUSpreadsLies.com is a fictional blog run by a non-human equal rights advocate
("Christopher"), arguing that Multinational United is oppressing the non-human
race. The website shows an uncensored version of the film's trailer originally
seen upon navigation to D-9.com. In it, the alien's face is not pixellated. A
translation of the alien's responses to his interrogator are provided (blog
entry 05-06-2009 "See The Real Me"). The blog is written in an alien script,
providing an option to "translate to English." On the film's official website,
Christopher is a wanted fugitive guilty of "crimes against MNU".
Starting in May 2009, signs on bus benches reading "Bus Benches for Humans Only"
began appearing in major cities. Similarly, posters reading "Bus Stop for Humans
Only" began appearing at bus shelters. Other "no aliens" posters have appeared
in businesses and comic shops. Posters encourage "reports" of "non-human
activity" by calling a toll-free number: 1-866-666-6001. The call connects to
the fictitious MNU company. The caller is offered a number of options, such as
the ability to "report non-human activity" or explore "career" opportunities for
humans or "labor" opportunities for non-humans available at MNU. It also gives
the caller the opportunity to speak to a representative. Later posters for the
film, also appearing in major cities, include "This Bus (or This Car) for Humans
Only".
On May 1, the teaser trailer was officially released online on Apple.com and
later added to D-9.com, the official website, and was also attached to the film
X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The theatrical trailer was released to the
Internet on July 8, 2009, and alongside the film Brüno.
Reception
Reviews have been very positive. On the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, it
currently holds a 88% rating with an average score of 7.7/10 based on 140
reviews, and a 87% rating based on 31 "Top Critic" reviews. On similar website
Metacritic, the film holds an average score of 81 based on 33 reviews, giving it
the status of "Universal Acclaim." On its opening weekend, the movie entered
IMDB.com's top 100 list as ranked by its users.
Some critics have been ecstatic about the film. Sara Vilkomerson of The New York
Observer writes, "District 9 is the most exciting science fiction movie to come
along in ages; definitely the most thrilling film of the summer; and quite
possibly the best film I've seen all year." Christy Lemire from the Associated
Press was impressed by the plot and thematic content, claiming that "District
9 has the aesthetic trappings of science fiction but it's really more of a
character drama, an examination of how a man responds when he's forced to
confront his identity during extraordinary circumstances." Entertainment
Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum described it as "...madly original, cheekily
political, [and] altogether exciting..."
Roger Ebert wrote a more tempered review on his website, praising the film for
"giving us aliens to remind us not everyone who comes in a spaceship need be
angelic, octopod or stainless steel," but complains that "...the third act is
disappointing, involving standard shoot-out action. No attempt is made to
resolve the situation, and if that's a happy ending, I've seen happier. Despite
its creativity, the film remains space opera and avoids the higher realms of
science-fiction."
The most negative reaction to the film has come from New York Press critic Armond White, who lambasts it for its outlandish premise and perceived racial
insensitivity toward its Apartheid allegories. He asserts that "Blomkamp and
Jackson want it every which way: The actuality-video threat of The Blair Witch
Project, unstoppable violence like ID4 plus Spielberg's otherworldly
benevolence: factitiousness, killing and cosmic agape. This is how cinema gets
turned into trash."
There has also been a direct response from the Biotechnology Industry
Organization. The Biotechnology Industry Organization launched a site,
District9Facts.com, which uses examples of on-screen science from the film to
discuss the scientific reality of the technology with experts.
District 9 was received well in the box office. In its opening weekend, it
grossed $37 million in the United States, making it the highest-grossing film of
the weekend.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia
article "District 9" and is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.
