(May Contain Spoilers)
I heard the quotes “fucking prawns!” before, but even then, I didn’t think that I would be in for this sort of ride! I was a little shocked when I first started watching, but I really enjoyed the documentary style at the beginning. I thought this type of shooting introduced the audience to so many characters quickly and caught the viewer up on what had just happened. This was all in the space on the first 15-20 minutes. The other thing I want to add is that I was entertained throughout the whole film considering the length of the film was almost 2 hours!
District 9, as I said, starts off with this documentary style following the Multinational United (MNU) cooperation revealing that a large alien ship arrived on earth and setup shop hoovering about South Africa’s city, Johannesburg. After the army made their way into the ship, they found aliens and then created a camp for them on earth. These arrivals didn’t go down well with the locals and they nicknamed them PRAWNS.
It is worth noting at this point that I felt with the camps and the locals discrimination against them they this was a disguised refugee story. I then felt that this story had more to offer and underline themes.
Right at the very beginning we are introduced to Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who is the son-in-law of the man in charge of MNU and therefore is given an opportunity to take charge of an operation. This operation is to move the prawns from Johannesburg to another facility that are more like concentration camps because the locals want them out. Wikus goes on this mission to knock on all of the prawns doors to give them 24 hours eviction notice before moving them to the new facility. Additionally, the slums – which district 9 has become – is where most of the crime happens, weapons trading, killing, and stealing. Wikus goes into one shack and finds weapons, but one of which blows up in his face, later infecting him and turning him slowly into a prawn!
Once the MNU discover that Wikus is transforming into a prawn they try to extract his blood and DNA. It is also worth noting that the aliens came with weapons of mass destruction, however, the aliens are the only people who can use it, so now that Wikus is a half-breed he is able to use the weapons humans cannot. Wikus then escapes and finds a prawn to help him get back to normal, however that same prawn has intentions of going back to the mothership and saving his kind. They help one another and the prawn says he will come back in 3 years to help transform him back into a human, however there was never a sequel to see that realisation.
I really enjoyed this film as it was a mix between comedy and drama with elements of mockumentary in there too. I enjoyed Sharlto Copley’s performance and through the writing was great from Neill Blomkamp. I think the darker meaning to this film is something to bear in mind as the underline messaged will seep into the subconscious and hopefully make us acknowledge wrong-doing like Wikus did. Thought-provoking, entertaining, and high action.
Stream now on Netflix.
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