District 9: Thought-provoking entertainment
What if aliens came to earth, not fearsome and hell-bent on destroying humans, not super-powerful and prepared to enlighten the ignorant citizens of our planet, but rather sick and malnourished, in a broken spaceship? This is the premise of science fiction movie District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp. The film has the feel of a documentary, beginning with a montage of interviews and news reports. My initial reaction during those first few minutes was that I was in for a movie-used-as-mouthpiece-for-political-opinions. But I was wrong. District 9 raises challenging questions, but does not attempt to answer them in any sort of pat manner. In fact, the primary question I found myself pondering as I walked out of the theater was “Could that really happen? Would people really do that? And if so, what does that say about human nature?”
It’s easy to imagine that if aliens showed up on earth, we would treat them with both curiosity and compassion. But what about years after they have arrived, when the burgeoning alien population is becoming a drain on the state’s resources? District 9 takes place 20 years after the aliens have arrived—after the novelty of having extraterrestrial visitors has worn off. The city of Johannesburg, where the spaceship originally appeared and where the aliens are housed (in a tightly packed district of shacks), is starting to buck against the aliens’ presence. The people of Johannesburg complain that the aliens are scavengers who will pull the shoes off a person, indeed strip them bare of anything profitable, and then kill them. Here the contentious questions begin. How should the aliens be treated? What rights belong to them? How should they be punished for their behavior? The “prawns,” as the aliens are derisively called, are supposedly the “workers” (implying some type of colony/hive queen structure to their society) of the species. Does that excuse their behavior? Or is their violence simply born out of poverty, desperation, and the misery of living so far from home? Does that excuse their behavior?
When MNU (Multi-National United) decides to relocate the aliens outside of Johannesburg, MNU officials go door to door demanding signatures (or rather, “scrawls”). One alien, Christopher, reads the document carefully and complains that his eviction is not legal. This raises yet more questions: what is “legal” in this situation? Should the aliens have any say in the matter? Since the aliens are essentially powerless to resist, why even bother to maintain such a poor semblance of legality? (At one point, an MNU official claims that he has obtained a scrawl when in reality the alien was knocking the clipboard out of his hands.)
I’m not going to disclose any more of the plot, but I do have to say that the list of questions is unending. And the ramifications of these themes extend far beyond the (arguably unlikely) scenario of aliens landing on earth. How should refugees be treated? Illegal immigrants? How much say do people who are entirely dependent on the government get about their living conditions? What are acceptable forms of population control? (One MNU official crassly compares the sound of burning alien eggs to popcorn popping.) How far can we go in the name of science? (The aliens, and even one human, are the unwilling subjects of scientific experimentation.)
This movie tackles tough issues, but doesn’t let them weigh down the plot. At times, fulfilling its role of summer blockbuster, District 9 adheres to the clichés of action films: there are chase scenes, (gratuitously) bloody shoot-outs, the requisite corny moment of alien-human solidarity (“No! We stick together!” one of the aliens says to a human), and the (actually very touching) portrait of a selfish, incompetent man who redeems himself in a key moment of self-sacrifice at the end. A movie well-worth seeing, not just for the action, but also for the thought-provoking, poignant questions about human nature it weaves in.
The official site: http://www.d-9.com/
