'District 9': Neill Blomkamp's Debut Feature Film

"District 9" is a rare movie capable of borrowing from the pantheon of science fiction cinema without being a hack. The conceptual basis of aliens crash-landed on Earth is nothing new to the science fiction genre. Nor is "District 9" unique with a human that befriends an extraterrestrial in the face of xenophobia and the need to violate life forms with dissection.

"District 9" takes the stylistic grit of Ridley Scott's "Alien," the polarizing social mockery via extraterrestrial insects of Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers," and the interspecies camaraderie of Nick Castle's "The Last Starfighter." It also achieves a logistical imagination seen in the human reaction to the aliens, as clever as and much more real than "Men in Black" or even "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Rarer still is that "District 9" is director/writer Neill Blomkamp's debut feature film, under the auspice of producer Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, "King Kong"). Not since George Lucas's directorial feature debut, "THX-1138," has a sci-fi film debuted with such impact.

Furthermore, "District 9" debuts the unknown talents of South African actor, Sharlto Copley. In the role of Wikus van de Merwe, Copley creates one of the strongest transformative protagonists seen in the formulaic science fiction genre from decades past. Copley is joined by another South African actor, a prolific Jason Cope, who provided an on camera role, as well as the speaking voices for the CGI aliens, among other voiceovers.

"District 9," which is set in Johannesburg,reaches into a heavy bag of social themes infecting South Africa like racism, xenophobia, corporate and military privatization. That Blomkamp, Copley and Cope all have ties to South Africa, among much more of the cast and crew, culminates an satirical, yet emotionally charged social commentary.

"District 9" also balances an inimitable style of filmmaking that crossbreeds special effects within a noted mocumentary style of cinematography. What this means is that the alien species and technology is convincing along with being filmed in a way that mimics documentary footage. This crossbred filmmaking compliments a fitting plot element where Copley's character, Wikus, undergoes a freak genetic accident that mutates him as an alien crossbreed. Unintentional or not, Copley's character is also linked to the film's technological atmosphere as he transcends into a benevolent being reborn from the machinery of greed, politics and fear.

We are introduced to Wikus as a goofy, seemingly naïve middle-management type, working as a sort of immigration relations officer to the aliens. The alien's mothership has stalled mid-air over Johannesburg and as the survivors run rampant the government's only choice is a settlement camp, District 9. Wikus is promoted for a special project where he heads an operation to relocate the aliens from their slum-like settlement to concentration camps.

The unfolding plot spirals this unassuming man into the belly of the beast; the monstrosity of governments in bed with private corporations. A seedy operation in the guise of humanitarian aid seeks opportunities to rape the aliens of their technology. Much like the violent human rights violations in South Africa, these atrocities go overlooked due to the local public seeing the impoverished as a nuisance rather than fellow beings in need.

After the crossbreeding accident, Wikus is on the run from being made into a piece of corporate property, more than his job already owns him. He must survive in the only place they won't look, and face the very thing he was hired to rid the city of, the alien slum. The full potential of the alien technology is revealed to us through Wikus's eyes as his only friend becomes one of the hideous aliens plotting his own escape. Hideous they are too; crude and powerful bipedal prawn-like creatures. This becomes yet another rarity in "District 9," where most science fiction will design its creatures to appear as either a grotesque opposition or cuddly friend. Just imagine the slobbering horror of H.R. Giger's creature from "Alien" laying bedside to Elliott in "E.T.," not quite the same, yet "District 9" pulls off a highly original piece of ugly empathy.

That Wikus befriends this beastly creature becomes another visual message component of the film; that we must face the ugly truth in order to aid those in need. Visually the technology that Wikus encounters and embraces becomes his transformative journey to being a compassionate man. As the visual effects and action intensifies, Wikus emerges as a brave and ultimately selfless hero. This is truly magnificent, yet subtle visual storytelling even if just an unintentional motif from the filmmakers.

In one climactic scene Wikus, exasperated from battle, falls from the belly of one of the Aliens' weapons (a battle-suit that's a no-holds barred hybrid of the suits from "Aliens" and "Robocop"). It's as if Wikus is birthed from the machine literally and the figurative government machine, reborn as a humane and unflinching hero. It took one man's total immersion into an extraterrestrial species to transcend political and even biological boundaries to save a struggling species. Herewith in Blomkamp's message nourishes a need to transcend just racial boundaries within the South African communities.

Human beings are not a pest to be dealt with by the privileged, and "District 9" emulates this in the design of the aliens as prawns. They are designed after the notorious Parktown prawn from the king cricket species that continually pesters the Johannesburg suburb of Parktown. The alien design is yet another superb job by the New Zealand special effects lab, Weta Workshop. The connection most likely comes from producer Peter Jackson, who worked with Weta on the "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy and "King Kong." Weta Workshop also had its foray into the otherworldly species mutation in Bong Joon-ho's "The Host," and the chillingly grotesque vampires in David Slade's "30 Days of Night".

"District 9" envelopes all these elements brilliantly from the alluring effects to the stirring performances, achieving a sociological pertinence behind the mask of one bad-ass alien movie.