?District 9?
D: Neill Blomkamp
S: Sharlto Copley

MANILA, Philippines?There?s a lot of action going on in Neill Blomkamp?s rousing science-fiction fantasy, ?District 9,? but its soulful, meditative musings about man?s need to establish connections considerably soften the production?s adrenaline-powered visual flourishes, resulting in a more visceral impact. Peter Jackson?s protégé finds a middle ground where spectacle and thematic substance meet.

Allegory

Blomkamp?s cinematic allegory follows a series of events that takes place after a stranded alien ship hovers?and stalls?over Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982. Inside it are about one million intellectually superior but physically malnourished extraterrestrial beings.

Twenty eight years later, the cat food-loving, crustacean-looking creatures, now numbering 1.8 million, are segregated in a militarized, overcrowded slum called District 9?and they?re about to be relocated again to a barren land some 240 kilometers away!

Earth?s leadership has grown impatient with the leaderless ?prawns? (as they are derogatorily referred to), because their superior technology and advanced weaponry are rendered useless for human consumption?they?re biologically engineered to work only when operated by the aliens themselves!

However, when government relocation operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), gets his face squirted with an alien-concocted liquid, he is slowly transformed into a ?prawn??a process that can only be reversed with the help of Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope), a smarter-than-usual alien he had forcibly evicted out of his shack earlier.

To Wikus? surprise, the extraterrestrials? vaunted technology suddenly works in his hands?and it doesn?t take long before the government operative becomes prey to megalomaniacs everywhere! Disowned by his wife, family and friends, he turns to the ?prawns? for help and finds solace in the unlikely partnership?then friendship?with the very people he once had little respect for.

Blomkamp?s compelling film entertains as much as it provokes: It boasts the action bravado of Hollywood?s CG-fueled potboilers, but its documentary-style storytelling gives it grit and realism. More admirably, it dispenses timely commentary about the dangers of bigotry, racial segregation and moral disarray.

Soulful eyes

In Wikus? chaotic world, the creature that ironically displays the most admirable ?human? traits is Christopher?s young child, whose soulful eyes and gentle countenance contrast with his monstrous physical appearance.

Blomkamp presents an insightful view of what happens when man allows ambition to overwhelm his moral bearing. Indeed, it?s easy to lose sight of the more lasting things in life when great power is within reach, and people forget to care for one another.