Alien Invasion!
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Not in the US, but here in Johannesburg, South Africa. That’s my city!
Two weeks ago I watched “District 9″ - the new sci-fi film by Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp, set right here in the city I live in. I loved it! The film is protrayed like a documentary about a bunch of aliens who live in a shanty town in Joburg called District 9. But after 30 years the locals have had enough and Wikus, a geeky office-type gets put in charge of an eviction team that, basically, has to kick the aliens out of their homes. Naturally, chaos ensues.
The film is obviously a satire of the apartheid days here is SA, as well as the recent xenophobic attacks, but also raises some interesting thoughts of the issues arising from cohabitation with aliens. It also plays on some typically South African issues - things that are naturally happening here in South Africa, yet the rest of the world may be unaware of. The Nigerians in D9, for example, trading cat food with the aliens in exchange for weaponry, is basically what is happening in downtown Joburg with the drug lords. Also, the concept of eating the aliens to gain their strength is a typical sangoma (witch doctor) philosophy in the rural areas here.
My favourite parts were the South Africanisms throughout the movie that had me in stitches: from the sangomas advocating eating the aliens to the accents and MNU guys shouting “Skiet hom, skiet hom!” (shoot him, shoot him, in Afrikaans), and of course, the Johannesburg skyline that I know so well.
The NY times has a good writeup on the movie, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. And I’d be interested to hear from you what you think - have any of you seen the movie? Did you enjoy it? Please drop me a line in the comments!
September 8th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Hello Claire,
I went to see this movie last Friday. It had a very interesting marketing campaign here in the US over the past 6 month and it really motivated me to go see it in a theater (I rarely go to see a movie). I loved it!
First of all it is very different than all these aseptic hollywood movie, it looks real. Then the location is very appropriate, and it definitely remind the problems of xenophobia, racism which led to the creation of slums and concentration camps. Definitely a movie to watch if you like science fiction and if you want to see something different. I may write a post about it today or tomorrow.
cheers
F.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I loved the film. It had a very unique feel to it…not your typical shoot-’em-up sci-fi film. It was so refreshing to see an alien film focus on more of the social aspects. Placing the time line 20 years after they arrived helped leapfrog over the typical storyline in addition to placing it in South Africa vs the US.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
It is wonderful to read a review of someone who is from South Africa. I find it fascinating, your comments on the similarities with the cat food/drug trading. I really enjoyed how this movie focused more on the social aspects of an alien encounter.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
There is something like that white Space Station of the Aliens up in the air it is navy-blue and looks like two bubbles.