District 9

Never underestimate the potential for evil when one entity gains the upper hand over another, forcing the momentarily weaker into submission. For ages, it has been happening all over the world when travelers come upon another culture and it has been happening for decades in the imagined world of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, where the South African metropolis Johannesburg has had an extraterrestrial space craft hovering over it for well over 20 years.

A mockumentary at the start of the District 9 sets the film in action explaining the decrepit state the aliens were in when contact was first made. Weak and ineffectual, the visitors are hoarded into a settlement where they regain their strength but not their dignity or power as their refuge camp devolves into a violent slum where warlords both human and alien trade in misery, planning for a better future perpetually out of reach.

As fear of the unfamiliar and harrowing contact between the citizens of Johannesburg and denizens of outer space grows, a multinational army moves in to the area deemed “District 9” to keep the peace by relocating the refugees to a larger, out of the way encampment. During the eviction, the evil capabilities planned or already in existence come into focus as innocent lives fall by the wayside in the scramble for power.

The strength of the film lies in the story running parallel to the troubles in present day Africa that are tied to the horror of European colonization of the “Dark Continent.” There is an intelligence to District 9 not typically found in summer movies usually reserved for the celebration of special effect wizardry. Which is not to say this film skips out on the CGI or action; rather it is a feast for both the eyes and mind, entertaining but horrifyingly truthful.