District 9 (2009)

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp | 111 minutes | action, science fiction, thriller | Actors: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt, Sylvaine Strike, Elizabeth Mkandawie, John Summer, William Allen Young, Greg Melvill-Smith, Greg Melvill-Smith, Nick Blake, Morena Busa Sesatsa, Themba Nkosi, Mzwandile Nqoba, Barry Strydom, Jed Brophy, Louis Minnaar, Vanessa Haywood, Marian Hooman, Vittorio Leonardi, Mandla Gaduka, Johan van Schoor, Stella Steenkamp, ​​David James, Kenneth Nkosi, Tim Gordon

What does it really take to love another being as much as you love yourself, or to see another being as equal to humans? And what if that other being isn’t even from this planet? And what if that creature looks like a giant shrimp on legs? The creature then gets a kind of ‘Elephant Man’ status, a nice sight and interesting scientific phenomenon, but at some point it’s had enough, then it has to shut up and back in its hole, then the fun is over. Then it all gets a bit tedious.

That’s what happens in ‘District 9’. The aliens lose their singularity and what remains is a burden, a worry. And then those beasts are also unsightly and then they will also be stupid (which is absolutely not the case!). Striking detail: their intelligence must be high; after all, they built and piloted that huge spaceship. In addition, they have very advanced weapons, which contrary to what people probably would and also to what people expected from them, they don’t use! The latter could indicate a hole in the script, but it fits within the overall message of the film that the makers deliberately let the aliens be non-violent, because it subtly allows those ugly monstrosities to rise far above human morality.

‘Fear’, that’s how the film should have been called. Fear of the unknown, fear of their own skin (‘they are taking our space’), fear and awe of the government and big companies and the media, which drive you crazy with anxious reporting about all kinds of things (swine flu for example ). And everyone is at the mercy of that fear as soon as one ‘surrenders’ to it. Which in turn drives us straight into the arms of the ‘really bad guys’, both in the form of companies and MNU, but also individuals who can’t hide in the anonymity of a company, but just laugh at you. And then there’s Van der Merwe, who symbolizes the ‘innocent’ human being, but is actually a prototype of the fearful, well-meaning naive, source of all misery and ultimately a symbol of the ultimate human shortcoming. Excellently portrayed by an as yet unknown actor with the intriguing name Sharlto Copley, who undergoes an easily imitable transformation from stupid human to alien and thus gets to know his own kind.

Kudos to the as yet unknown South African director Neill Blomkamp, ​​who, fortunately supported by giant Peter Jackson (‘LOTR’), manages to transform his test film ‘Alive in Joburg’ into a visual action spectacle with an important message that is not cheerful. , but fortunately it is entertainingly presented (probably the only condition under which he comes across at all). And that while the aliens aren’t even hovering over New York or Washington this time! Oh well, people are apparently the same everywhere, the financiers must have thought and they are right. Okay, the film has great special effects, the aliens look fantastic (ugly) and there is more than enough super cool action, especially after the first half. But this film owes its strength mainly to the excellent idea, the drama that goes into it and how it’s worked out. Everyone who goes to see the film will agree (although it will be more subconscious for some). The injustice, abuses, short-sightedness, selfishness and reckless cruelty are horribly real and hardly exaggerated if you’ve been following humanity a bit lately. During the film you can rightly ask yourself: how much respect do we actually have for ourselves? And is respect ‘own people first’ or is a bigger picture needed? Probably the latter, but whether that’s in it?

At a time like this, when xenophobia is becoming one of the major political pillars in Western societies, this film is just right. he holds up a painful mirror to us, because despite the sauce of action and visual spectacle, ‘District 9’ is a very human film, in the bad sense of the word. Human weakness is the driving force, pitfalls of lack of understanding and intolerance, large amounts of self-interest, based on existential fears, leading to unprecedented cruelty, perhaps not committed, but undeniably fueled or enabled by the fearful masses. Welcome to Earth.