The aliens in District 9 have not brought an armada to conquer humans and destroy Earth. In fact, it seems that they're here only because their ship has malfunction and remains hovering over the city of Johannesburg. The malnourished aliens are given refuge by humans in what becomes just like any other slum: poor living conditions and crime. Further, the human inhabitants resent these slum dwelling immigrants. Violence occassionally erupts, and it is decided that they will be evicted and moved to a more remote location--a tent city called District 10.
The aliens resemble upright grasshoppers, slightly larger than the typical human. They are derogatorily called "prawns" by the humans for their somewhat crustacean-like appearance. Some of them fall prey to, or participate in various vices (looting, prostitution, black market activity) abetted by Nigerian gangs. They have weapons, but do not use them. These particular aliens seem not to be warriors, but merely worker drones. Only two of them (and the child of one) seem to have the intellectual capability to be able to fix their ship and return home.
In a brilliant performance, Sharlto Copley plays Wikus Van De Merwe, an official charged with orchestrating the eviction of the aliens. Initially he seems like a bureaucratic fool--too bumbling to be truly evil, yet callous and so determine to exercise his task that he is immune to human feeling for the creatures he is dispossessing of their "home."
Due to an accident, Wikus is infected with something that causes him to physically change into one of the aliens. His hand turns into a floppy claw which horrifies him, but which draws great interest from the evil scientists and businesspeople who wish to use him for medical experiments as he is a link between human and alien. The alien weaponry only works when fired by alien "hands," and now they've found an alien/human being who might be the key to exploiting these powerful new weapons.
Wikus goes on the run, as he now becomes enemy of both the state and the aliens (who he had formerly been evicting from their homes). He realizes, though, that the best place for him to hide is in slums. It is there that he is reunited with one of the "smart" aliens, absurdly named Christopher Johnson. Wikus had previously hassled Christopher and his son, and indirectly caused a confrontation that led to the death of Johnson's friend. But they realize that they can help each other, and the two work together to reclaim the special *fluid* that will help Johnson and his son re-start the spacecraft and return home.
There are some very touching scenes involving the growing friendship and respect that Wikus and Johnson develop. Also Wikus's cell phone pleas to his wife, whom he desperately wants to return to, but can't because he is a wanted man.
The Johannesburg setting brings to life the squalid townships, the legacy of apartheid, the cruelty of the police forces, and the notion of humans of different backgrounds, ethnicities, languages, etc. living together not always in harmony. The notion of the refugee/immigrant who is exploited, yet looked on with derision and suspicion. The ability of humans to help each other; and the greed and callousness to treat each other inhumanely. All of these factors come into play, enhanced by the setting, the mock-documentary style of the early part of the film (the back story, basically), and the turn to a thriller/action-type film which changes what might have become more of a dreary intellectual-type exercise (I've actually read of people walking out of the film during the first part) into a very entertaining film. (8.5/10)
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