“District 9″ is not a movie about aliens. You might be forgiven for thinking otherwise from the previews; there’s certainly no shortage of the traditional accouterments of a space alien movie there. But despite the spaceships and robots and laser guns (and yes, despite the aliens), this movie isn’t about aliens.

This is a movie about Humans.

“District 9″ follows five days in the life of Wikus Van De Merwe, a minor government official in South Africa who has been given a big project. Johannesburg has become home to two million displaced insect-like aliens (derogatorily called ‘prawns’ by most) who were stranded on Earth by a mysterious failure in their enormous ship. Although their technology is impressive, individually the aliens are unintelligent, savage, and impulsive. Their segregated home in District 9 has become a slum and frictions with the human inhabitants of the city lead the government to relocate the entire population of aliens to a new camp far outside the city. Thanks to a bit of nepotism, Wikus gets the job and rapidly begins to discover there is far more going on in District 9 than he had any idea of, and soon he finds himself questioning where his loyalties really lie.

Ironically, the existence of “District 9″ is fallout from the cancellation of the Halo live-action movie that director Niell Blomkamp was picked to direct. When the Halo project fell through, Peter Jackson gave Blomkamp a consolation prize of thirty million dollars to make anything he wanted. It turns out what he wanted was to remake a short movie called “Alive in Joburg” from early in his career.

Rating:

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

Written by:Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell

Staring: Sharlto Copley

The cinematography is a bit scattered. The first hour or so of the movie is done in a documentary/interview style, providing background on the presence of the alien ghetto, the feelings of the human population of the city, and the character of Wikus. This format is abandoned about halfway through for a more traditional approach once the action starts to get serious. The shift is a bit jarring, and makes the movie seem a bit schizophrenic, but I can’t honestly think of how the same material could have been covered any other way.

Although thirty million is a pretty small budget for a CGI-heavy action movie, you can’t tell from the result. The CGI is excellently done, and very nearly seamless. There is a good balance of action in the movie, enough to be exciting without overpowering the story. The action is fairly graphic, the squeamish may be put off by the frequency of head explosion and blood-on-the-camera-lens.

It’s easy to let the superficial layer of action movie distract from what’s really going on. “District 9″ is heavily influenced by Blomkamp’s experiences with apartheid as a child in South Africa, and it’s the themes of justice, cruelty, and humanity that really make the movie interesting. Wikus is one of the most dynamic characters I’ve seen in a long time, and it’s his journey of self-examination that really elevates this film above other generic summer action flicks. It’s easy for both Wikus and the viewers to initially dismiss the aliens as sub-human. They’re dirty, savage, and seem to have few redeeming qualities. A more traditional movie might spend its time showing that aliens are actually just like us, and that we should feel guilty for mistreating them. “District 9″ is a bit more ambitious.

There is a saying that goes something like this : “The true measure of a person’s quality is shown by how they treat the weak.” Does it really matter how much the aliens are inferior to us, if it’s how we treat them that defines our own humanity?