District 9 is one of these movies that tell you a lot of real-world stories using exotic, if not superficially irrelevant, metaphors. In this case, the metaphor is simple: aliens have come to our planet, but without a clear purpose (peaceful or not). Rather, an alien mother-ship appeared over a South African city one day in 1982 and stayed there until the humans decided to enter and investigate what’s in there. What they found was thousands of alien insect-like beings without a leader, without food, without something to do or go. They looked… stranded thus the human government decided to confine them initially in a camp, called District 9, just outside the city…
Produced by Lord of the Rings and Hobbit director, Peter Jackson, and directed by Neill Blomkamp this fast-paced movie narrates events ‘occurred’ during the alien population relocation from District 9 that the government decided after growing ‘discontent’ from locals living near that area. To do the actual relocation, which ought to be done according to human laws on eviction process etc, the government hired a private military conglomerate which designated an Afrikaner bureaucrat called Wikus van de Merwe to be the project leader. This is the setting. But the events depicted provoke thoughts about xenophobia, racism, illegal medical experiments and corporations going rampant beyond any control. Watch the trailer and save two hours to enjoy the movie:
bgibby
Hello from South Africa. 🙂
The movie echos some actual past events that happened under South Africa’s previous regime. Specifically the eviction of Coloured peoples from their homes in District 6, an area of Cape Town.