District 9 is everything Steven Spielberg is incapable of doing with modern science fiction, and that is perhaps the greatest compliment I can bestow upon this film. No cuddly aliens here, no heavy-handed moralising that would make Walt Disney blush.  

 The premise supposes an alien aircraft landing sometime in the late 20th century, but subverts the usual Hollywood clichés by having the aliens land in Johannesburg – not the well trodden NY or LA. This provides an exciting and new environment for such a story, and being less familiar as a celluloid setting for the viewer, a more believable one. This is a clever tool, preventing the viewer from anticipating the usual landmarks being destroyed or saved. What follows is a film that ticks all the boxes that any science fiction fan could hope for. It’s gritty, realistic, packed with action and lashings and lashings of blood and guts. But where this film excels is in its ability to bring to the piece a new take on an old theme: how would we react if the little green men really did disembark on Earth?  The aliens, pejoratively described as “prawns” by the locals, have been quarantined into a slum, the District 9, and after 20 years, are to be moved by MNU, a shadowy multinational organisation set up to “assist” – exploit? – the aliens. We follow, in a hand-held style documentary style the rather grey, civil servant type, Wikus de Merwe in his day serving eviction notices to the “prawns”. Just as the prawns are physically abhorrent initially, Wikus is an emotionally unpleasant and weak character, but as the film progresses, we see both in a changing light. It is a credit to the production team that this is done with a light touch, and none of the usual heavy-handed Hollywood signposting “now you like all the aliens”.

The apartheid reference, along with the look of the slum itself, and the presence of a Nigerian mafia – supplying quite a lot of gunpower – keep South Africa itself as a key character in the story. That said, no viewer would leave feeling that any other country would have handled the situation in any other way.

The director, Neil Blongkamp clearly knows his sci-fi with nods to Robocop (Ed209 anyone?) and The Fly. But while these similarities are apparent, Blongkamp is not simply serving up a re-hash of old favourites, but utilises these as a vehicle to craft and enhance the story.

Anyone who enjoys sci-fi should get to their nearest multiplex asap, but this is also a film which, given the questions it asks of us, can be appreciated on a deeper level.

Peter Jackson – time to give your prodigy Blongkamp a gold star, top of the class!

PS: this is based on Blongkamp’s lovingly crafted 6min short, “Alive in Joburg”, which can be seen on YouTube…