District 9
Plot:
In 1982 a huge alien spacecraft lands just above Johannesburg in South Africa, it contained millions of ill and malnourished aliens. These aliens were moved in a temporary camp which was controlled strictly by the military, this camp soon became a slum in which there are high crime rates and very poor living conditions. The rest of the film takes place in 2010 where the story follows Wikus van de Merwe an African bureaucrat who is chosen by Piet Smit a MNU executive which is also his father-in-law to lead the camp relocation by giving the aliens with eviction notices. While doing this they find a many illegal stashes of alien and human weaponry, devices these being the biggest finds they’ve had. The story also follows an alien called Christopher and his son, they are planning to escape but to do this they need a liquid so they can power there ship to return home however as they complete the creation of the power source it is discovered by Wikus and he accidentally sprays it onto his face over a few hours he starts to transform into one of the aliens ‘Prawns’ starting with his arm. However after being sprayed he confiscates the item and it is sent to the MNU HQ where it is place in the bio labs. Over a few hours Wikus experiences strange symptoms such black liquid coming from his nose loss of finger nails and throwing up. When returning home he is greeted by a surprise party in which he falls unconscious he goes to hospital where he finally discover his arm has transformed he is taken away by the MNU and is experimented on and used for weapon testing until he finally escapes from here on he is on the run from the MNU and escapes into District 9 where he finds Christopher who says he can turn him back, however he needs the liquid which was taken to the labs. Wikus and Chris break into the labs and steal the liquid and escape. They are then chased back to D-9 were Wikus plans to get up the mothership as soon as possible, but Christopher has changed his plans since seeing what the MNU had being doing to his species in the labs. He plans to go home and come back with more fuel however it will take three years to go there and back this enrages Wikus and he knocks Chris out and then activates the small craft and attempts to fly up to the mothership but is almost immediately shot down by the MNU he is then recaptured by the MNU and is being taken out but the convoy is ambushed by the gang he stole weapons off earlier he is then taken by them, they are just preparing to eat him as a Prawn battle suit saves him. He takes control of it and fights off the gang and the MNU off so he Chris get to his son who activates the mothership to beam them up so they can escape. Chris promises to return in three years. Koobus Venter the leader of the MNU military actions in District 9 finally destroys the armor suit and is about to kill Wikus but is surrounded by Prawns and ripped to pieces. The film ends with a series of interviews including one with his wife.
Characters:
- Wikus van de Merwe, a mild-mannered manager at the MNU Department of Alien Affairs, whose blasé and callous attitude to the aliens changes as he comes to see things from their point of view.
- Christopher Johnson, an alien who is increasingly more intelligent than the average Prawn and plans to escape.
- Colonel Koobus Venter, a PMC mercenary-soldier sent to capture Wikus. He is shown as sadistic and violent, taking pleasure in killing the aliens and responding brutally to anyone who opposes him.
- Obesandjo, a paralyzed psychopathic Nigerian warlord who believes that eating alien body parts will give him the ability to operate their weapons.
- Piet Smit,a director at MNU, and Wikus' father-in-law. He is the one who creates the cover-up that turns Wikus into a fugitive, and tries to turn his daughter against Wikus by saying he was an adulterer who had sex with the aliens.
Filming Styles:
District 9 uses a documentary film style with interviews, Handheld shots and CCTV camera shots it was like the rest of the film was a recreation of what happened to Wikus and his story.
The Apartheid System:
The Apartheid system was a system of racial separation between Black and White Africans. It was a extremely racist system against all black people which gave white persons overall authority against the Black or coloured inhabitants of South Africa. It divided people into four separate groups including White,Black,Coloured and Asian. The System created laws that made life very hard for Black people in that they could not run businesses or professional practices, they couldn’t be married to whites and even things like not being able to go on certain beaches or benches and even restricted from certain areas.
