District 9

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District 9, abbreviated D-9, is a 2009 science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp, released on August 14, 2009 in North America by TriStar Pictures, starring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope and Robert Hobbs.

The film is based on Alive in Joburg, a 2005 short film directed by Blomkamp and produced by Sharlto Copley. Like the short film it's based on, District 9 takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa, and poses analogies to the events that occured during the apartheid system enforced by South African government between 1948 and 1994. Much of the film is shot in a documentary-style, including a mix of interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras. The title of the movie is a reference to District Six, a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa, declared a "whites only" area by the apartheid government in 1966, with a population of 60,000 forcibly relocated to Cape Flats, 25 kilometres away.^[3]

Plot

The film opens with an explanation of events that occurred 28 years in the past, when an alien ship settled above Johannesburg, South Africa. Several interviewed humans suggest that the alien ship became stranded after what appeared to be a command module fell from the ship to Earth. After three months of speculation as to the ship's motives, humans cut their way in, discovering a large group of malnourished and leaderless arthropod-like non-humans. The creatures, primarily referred to as "prawns"—a derogatory reference to the Parktown prawn, a king cricket species found in South Africa^[4]—were eventually housed in a government camp inside Johannesburg called District 9 while various nations argued about their fate. Overcrowding and militarization quickly turned the area into a slum, with a massive black market set up between the aliens and a Nigerian gang, led by paralyzed warlord Obesandjo. As a result, a private defense contractor Multinational United (MNU), which also researches new weapons, was assigned to govern the area.

Back in the present day, the MNU is shown planning to evict and relocate the 1.8 million aliens to a new "District 10" camp located 240 km from Johannesburg, with an MNU field operative named Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) assigned as head of this operation. As the eviction is unfolding, three aliens —two adults and a child— are shown searching through a trash heap for alien technology, finding something which they bring to a shack, and distilling a few drops of liquid out of it. One of the adults, given the name Christopher Johnson by the MNU, remarks that it has taken 20 years to finish his project and it is now complete.

During the eviction process, Wikus raids these aliens' hut, in which he finds the alien canister holding the fluid, which sprays a dark liquid onto his face. The device is confiscated on the grounds that it can be dangerous to other humans. Wikus later tries to evict Christopher Johnson, but Johnson acts more intelligently than the other aliens, questioning the illegal application of the eviction notice and requesting that his rights be upheld. Wikus throws up and leaves the area, and at a lunch stop at a human burger restaurant, Wikus starts bleeding black liquid from his nose.

On the same night at his own promotion party, Wikus' health gets worse and finally collapses. A doctor at a local hospital then discovers his left arm has mutated into an alien appendage. Wikus is then taken into custody by MNU, and after a series of tests, it is revealed that Wikus' now-alien DNA allows him to operate alien weapons, previously useless to humans due to their bond with alien biology. The scientists intend to harvest Wikus' organs, which they hope will allow humans to operate alien weapons, but Wikus' new strength allows him to overpower his captors and escape.

Having become a fugitive, Wikus seeks refuge in District 9, returning to Christopher Johnson's hut. Although initially hostile towards Wikus, Christopher eventually reveals that the canister contains fuel that would enable Christopher to activate the mother ship, and that the mother ship's control module is hidden under his hut. He agrees to help Wikus reverse the genetic transformation if he retrieves the confiscated fuel. While attempting to purchase alien weaponry from the Nigerian gang, Wikus is seized at the orders of Obesandjo, who seeks to gain Wikus's ability to operate the alien weapons by eating his arm, but ultimately manages to escape.

Back at MNU headquarters, a mercenary is shown to be tasked with capturing Wikus. Wikus and Christopher then break into MNU and retrieve the fuel canister. During their invasion into the MNU building, Christopher discovers that the company has been performing gruesome medical experiments on aliens. Wikus and Christopher fight their way back to District 9, but Christopher then informs Wikus that he has decided that he must first return to his homeworld to seek help for his people before he can cure Wikus. The flight home and return to Earth would take three years. Frustrated, Wikus knocks Christopher unconscious and powers up the command module with the help of Christopher's young son. Shortly after Wikus lifts off, the MNU mercenaries destroy one of the command module's engines with a rocket, causing it to crash land back into District 9.

Wikus is captured by MNU and a battle between the MNU mercenaries and Obesandjo's gang breaks out. The Nigerians capture Wikus and prepare to remove his arm. From the command module, Christopher's son activates the mother ship and a mechanized battle suit which autonomously kills Obesandjo and his men. After entering the suit, Wikus rescues Christopher from being killed by MNU mercenaries and helps him return to the ship while Wikus creates a diversion. After promising Wikus that he will return in three years to repair his body, Christopher boards the command module and activates a tractor beam to return to the mother ship. Heavily wounded, Wikus is ejected from the damaged suit and is quickly caught by the leader (and sole survivor) of the MNU squad. Before Wikus can be killed, however, aliens burst out of the surrounding slums and dismember the mercenary.

The mother ship leaves Johannesburg's sky for the first time in two decades, and the townspeople cheer in response. The film concludes with another series of interviews and news broadcasts, providing human opinions on the events that unfolded. The aliens are successfully moved to District 10, which is said to have a population of 2.5 million and growing. One of Wikus' coworkers hacks MNU's database and publicly exposes their illegal genetic experiments, for which he has been incarcerated. People theorize about Wikus' fate; some believe that he left on the mother ship, while others believe he is in hiding, or perhaps captured by the government. It is also hypothesized that the aliens might return and declare war on humanity. A scene with Wikus' wife reveals that a small metal flower was left on her doorstep, which she muses may have been a gift from Wikus, who had a penchant for handmade gifts. In the final scene, an alien with a bandaged left arm, presumably the fully-transformed Wikus, is shown in a junk yard fashioning a flower out of scrap metal.