I made plans to go see this movie on opening night, midnight on Thursday. These plans originally included just myself. Then I found myself going on a date with a very sweet, attractive, non-profit industrial complex worker. After drinks and dinner I admitted that I was planning to go see this flick at midnight and if he wasn’t completely appalled by my need to see movies on opening night he was welcome to come along. He did, indeed, choose to walk the 1.5 miles to the theater with me for the midnight showing.
Firstly, I must admit that I basically had no idea what the movie was about other than a supposed commentary on both immigration and aparthei. I had seen a preview and caught sight of numerous advertisements around town, but I lacked a basic understanding of what I was getting myself in to (not unlike when I went to the opening night of Twilight). With basically no expectations I sat down with my date and watched the theater fill up as the opening previews were about to get started.
District 9 is likely the MOST racist movie I have seen in 2009, surpassing Transformers and G.I. Joe. The movie takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa. A space ship has crashed (or more accurately stalled out) just above the ground. Almost the entire leadership of South Africa are white actors (with exception of the president who has nearly zero lines). This is all supposed to take place in the near future, 2010.
We are quickly introduced to Wikus van der Merwe, a field operative for MNU (Multi-National United), the organization established for the purpose of addressing the “problem” of the aliens. Wikus is shown policing the aliens in the fenced and eroding detention camp. He goes around the camp hassling alien residents, threatening them, using excessive force, and even attempting a genocide (forced abortion of alien babies). These things are depicted in a way that we, as viewers, should be horrified at what is happening. However, the aliens are depicted as disgusting beings that create filth, have no basic understanding of how to live, yet have the most advanced technological weapons ever seen by humans. We are also introduced to another set of characters, the Nigerian people living within the same camp. The depiction of the Nigerians are horrifying (read: racist). The “war lord” has established a trade with the aliens, cat food for weapons and other goods. The “war lord” also depends on a “witch doctor” who encourages eating the aliens, seemingly a cannibalism reference. While the aliens (who I have not mentioned are referred to as prawns through the entire movie, a degrading terms for the beings) are not the same species as humans I think we can assume that we are supposed to see them as parallel species, making the consuming of their flesh equivalent to cannibalism. Describing Africans and other Indigenous peoples around the world as cannibals is a long tradition of white supremacy, and a disgusting part of this movie.
Eventually Wikus finds himself turning into an alien, because he swallowed some of the alien technological fluid. As he starts transforming into an alien he is kidnapped by the same institution he had been working for and they begin experiments on him. Wikus manages to escape and get himself into the alien camp where he hides out with the same community that he had been policing and persecuting. The audience is supposed to feel bad for this man and begin to have empathy for him. He partners with one of the aliens and tries to figure out how to get himself changed back into a human. Eventually the alien and Wikus end up escaping back into the experimentation wing of MNU where they see the horrible, heinous, inhumane things being done to the aliens. Wikus attempts to exonerate himself by saying he did not know this was happening (apartheid abuses or nazism or chattel slavery anyone?). They are able to escape with the tools they need to get the mother ship back in order. The following 15 – 25 minutes have some of the more entertaining action shots (though I was quite sad when the audience clapped during the blowing up of the aliens, shouldn’t we be rooting for them?). There was some neat alien technological weapons that caused some fascinating damage. The humans are eventually defeated and that’s a significant joy.
At the conclusion of the movie there is still no solution for the 2.5 million aliens who have been placed in a smaller more miserable camp. We go from looking at the complexities of the relationships between the entirety of the alien community to a one-on-one relationship without returning to the more complex nature of the larger relationship. The movie ends with us feeling for Wikus as he turns into a full alien who is still in love with his human wife.
Other random reflections:
What is the movie trying to say about human nature? Are we supposed to believe that humans are naturally violent to the things we are unfamiliar with? Is there another film possibility in relationship with this movie? Could we depict the solidarity movement with the aliens? Can we imagine what it would be like for humans within Johannesburg to build relationships with the aliens and work to end the egregious abuses against them? What would that film say about humanity?
The violence committed against the aliens in the camp is not unlike the violence of the U.S. government against undocumented immigrants today. Fortunately we are not quite as awful as the humans in the movie but we certainly detain people in unsanitary conditions, strip families from each other, intentionally pit folks against one another, and kill/maim/torture immigrant detainees. The parallels with apartheid are also tragic. I recently learned, from a posting that I will link here, that the film is shaped by the story of District 6 in Cape Town, South Africa, which makes the movie even more racist. The idea that the aliens are really supposed to represent Black folks from South Africa makes the depiction of the aliens even more egregious.
The action is not that exciting, the acting is not that great, there are not dreamy people to look at, and it provides little distraction from real life – so even my shallow reasons for going to movies were not met by this one.
As the movie ended, I turned to my date, apologized for suggesting we go and then we headed out.
A decent review and good comments here
