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District 9

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District 9
U.S. theatrical poster
Directed byNeill Blomkamp
Written byNeill Blomkamp
Terri Tatchell
Produced byPeter Jackson
Bill Block
Ken Kamins
Paul Hanson
Elliot Ferwerda
StarringJason Cope
Robert Hobbs
Sharlto Copley
CinematographyTrent Opaloch
Edited byJulian Clarke
Music byClinton Shorter
Production
companies
WingNut Films
QED International
Key Creatives
Wintergreen Productions
Distributed byTriStar Pictures
Release dates
August 13, 2009 (international)
August 14, 2009 (U.S./Canada)
Running time
112 min.
CountriesNew Zealand
South Africa
LanguagesEnglish
Nyanja
Budget$30 million[1]
Box office$37,000,000[2]

District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp, released August 13, 2009 internationally and August 14, 2009 in North America.[3] It takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa. District 9 is based on Alive in Joburg, a short film directed by Neill Blomkamp, and stars Sharlto Copley, Simon Hansen and Shanon Worley.

Plot

The film opens with a documentary-style series of interviews that introduce the situation. Twenty years before, an alien ship is seen coming towards Earth and arrives above Johannesburg, South Africa. It hovers above the city for three months without any contact; eventually humans take the initiative and cut into the ship. They discover a large group of aliens who are malnourished and sick. The aliens are later assessed as apparently being all "workers", with their leadership mysteriously missing (it is hypothesized that a plague may have wiped out all of the leadership-caste). Grainy footage shows part of the ship (supposed to be a command module) falling to Earth, but nobody has been able to find it, leaving the ship inoperable.

The movie takes place in 2010. The creatures, primarily referred to as "prawns" —as a derogatory reference to the sea creature which they resemble— or, more rarely, "non-humans", are housed in a government camp. Overcrowding and militarization eventually turn the area into a slum known as District 9. A massive black market is set up between the aliens and a group of Nigerians primarily led by Obesandjo, a paralyzed warlord. In addition to inter-species prostitution, the Nigerians exchange canned cat food for alien weapons, having learned that the cat food a similar effect to catnip on the aliens.

Patience over the alien situation has run out and control over them has been contracted to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company that shows little regard for the aliens' welfare. MNU is interested in using the aliens' advanced weaponry, but its integration with alien biology makes it useless for humans.

An MNU field operative named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is set with a task to move 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 squirts a dark liquid into his face. He becomes very sick and collects the device as evidence.

A rapid transformation begins to occur, and after collapsing at a surprise party in his house, a doctor at a local hospital discovers his alien left arm has mutated into a claw exactly like that of a prawn. Wikus is then taken into custody and a series of tests and experiments are performed on him; these reveal that his alien DNA allows him to operate alien weapons. The scientists discover that his DNA is currently "in balance" with the alien DNA, which is gradually taking over. They decide to harvest his body for biological material at this critical point, to have the greatest chance of replicating his ability to use alien technology in other humans later. To reduce any side-effects, no anesthetic was used. However, during the attempted vivisection Wikus overpowers his captors and escapes from MNU.

Wikus seeks refuge in the run-down shack of an alien given the name Christopher Johnson by the human authorities, the same alien who Wikus attempted to evict earlier, who created the alien device that infected Wikus. (The alien language is unpronounceable by humans, and Wikus and Christopher talk by means of non-convergent discourse. The device contains fuel that Christopher scavenged from various alien parts scattered around District 9. It is hinted that Christopher might be a surviving member of the prawn leadership caste, as he shows much more knowledge of how alien technology works, possesses or at least found the command module, and interacts with MNU officials more articulately than other aliens. Although initially hostile towards Wikus, Christopher eventually agrees to help him reverse the transformation if Wikus will retrieve the fuel from MNU labs. Christopher promises to undo the mutation by getting Wikus aboard the mother ship hovering over Johannesburg, and shows Wikus the ship's command module, which has been hidden under his shack.

Wikus steals some alien weaponry from Obesandjo and his gang, with Obesandjo vowing to capture Wikus and eat his mutated arm (his witch doctor believes this will give him the power to operate the alien weaponry). With Christopher's help they launch an assault on MNU and successfully retrieve the fuel sample. While there, Christopher discovers that MNU has been experimenting on his people. Wikus and Christopher fight their way back to District 9 and Christopher begins preparations to leave. He tells Wikus that he must first return to his home world to seek help for his people before he can cure Wikus. Furious, Wikus knocks Christopher unconscious and powers up the ship himself. The MNU mercenaries target Wikus and destroy one of the command module's engines, causing it to crash land inside District 9.

After Wikus is captured by MNU, a battle between the MNU mercenaries and Obesandjo's gang breaks out. After a protracted firefight, the Nigerians capture Wikus. Just before Wikus' arm is chopped off, Christopher's son activates several systems in the mothership, including the autopilot routine of a mechanized battle suit; it slaughters Obesandjo and his men after they fire on it. Wikus enters the alien walker battle suit, and after initially attempting to flee, returns and rescues Christopher. Armed with a lightning cannon, tracking missiles, and a high-powered machine gun, Wikus begins to fight the MNU men. After being knocked over by a anti-tank sniper round, he convinces Christopher to return to the shuttle without him, over Christopher's objections. Christopher promises Wikus that he will return in three years to repair his body. Christopher then boards the shuttle and activates a tractor beam which returns the command module to the mother ship.

Wikus is shot in the back and the walker suit ejects him. Wikus, heavily wounded, begins dragging himself away from the leader (and sole survivor) of an MNU squad, but is quickly caught. As Wikus prepares to die, aliens burst out of the surrounding slums and dismember the mercenary.

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 now has a population of 2.5 million and is growing. One of Wikus' coworkers hacks MNU's database and publicly exposes their illegal genetic experiments. There are many differing theories on Wikus' fate. Some people believe that he either left on the mother ship, is in hiding, was captured by MNU or a government agency. Some interviewees hypothesize that the aliens are planning to return with a full army and declare war on humanity. An interview with Wikus' wife reveals a small metal rose was left on her doorstep (Wikus has earlier demonstrated his affection with handmade gifts). Her friends have told her that it could not have possibly been Wikus, but she appears unsure. In the final scene, an alien with a bandaged left arm is shown in a junk yard fashioning a rose 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 removed to Cape Flats, 25 kilometres away during the following years.

Cast

  • Sharlto Copley as Wikus van der Merwe[4]
  • William Allen Young as Dirk Michaels
  • Robert Hobbs as Ross Pienaar
  • Jason Cope as Grey Bradnam[4]
  • Kenneth Nkosi as Thomas
  • Vanessa Haywood as Tania van der Merwe[4]
  • Nathalie Boltt as Sarah Livingstone[4]
  • Sylvaine Strike as Dr. Katrina McKenzie[4]
  • John Summer as Les Feldman[4]
  • Nick Blake as Francois Moraneu[4]
  • Jed Brophy as James Hope[4]
  • Louis Minnaar as Piet Smit[4]
  • Vittorio Leonardi as Michael Bloemstein[4]
  • Marian Hooman as Sandra van der Merwe[4]
  • Mandla Gaduka as Fundiswa Mhlanga[4]
  • Johan van Schoor as Nicolas van der Merwe[4]
  • Stella Steenkamp as Phyllis Sinderson[4]
  • David James as Kobus Venter[4]
  • Tim Gordon as Clive Henderson[4]
  • Jonathan Taylor as the Doctor[4]

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.[5] 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.[6]

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 by Peter Jackson's firm, Weta Digital.[7]

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".

The official website for the film, D-9.com, is "run" by Multinational United (MNU), a fictitious company in 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". 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".

File:District-9 advertising Canterbury Tail 25 June 2009.jpg
Advertising on the side of a building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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.[8] On similar website Metacritic, the film holds an average score of 81 based on 33 reviews, giving it the status of "Universal Acclaim."[9] 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."[10] 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."[11] Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum described it as "...madly original, cheekily political, [and] altogether exciting..."[12]

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."[13] Kirk Honeycutt from The Hollywood Reporter gave District 9 a positive review but noted flaws in the film's storyline, "The MNU scientists want to kill Wikus. This makes little sense: Shouldn't Wikus —the only being who can operate alien weapons— be of greater value alive than dead? What do the scientists believe they can extract from his organs?"[14]

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."[15]

See also

  • Alien Nation, a 1990s collection of works about an alien worker race taking refuge on Earth.
  • Alive in Joburg, short film on which it's based.

References

  1. ^ "Jackson's new sci-fi film a return to his origins". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  2. ^ "District 9 (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/releaseinfo
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/fullcredits#cast
  5. ^ Peter Jackson: Movie fans are 'fed up with the lack of original ideas'
  6. ^ Frater, Patrick (November 4, 2007). "Sony to release Jackson's 'District': QED to fully finance sci-fi film". Variety. Retrieved 2009-07-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Vancouver visual effects studios manufacture District 9's alien look". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2009-07-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "District 9". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  9. ^ "District 9". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  10. ^ Sara Vilkomerson. "District 9 Blew My Mind!". Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  11. ^ Christy Lemire. "Review: Dramatic twists in store in 'District 9'". Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  12. ^ Lisa Schwarzbaum. "Movie Review: District 9". Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  13. ^ Roger Ebert. "Throw another prawn on the barbie". Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  14. ^ Kirk Honeycutt. "District 9 -- Film Review". Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  15. ^ Armond White. "From Mothership to Bullship". Retrieved 2009-08-12.
Official websites
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