District 9 was an intriguing, thought provoking film that was intended to capture and portray the spectrum of issues that face post – Apartheid South Africa, most notably racism. The movie, despite its relatively low budget compared to Hollywood, was well received and is considered successful. While the film seeks to tackle tough questions on political grounds, it fizzles out and falls short towards the latter half of the film, though I still applaud director Niel Blomkamp’s boldness for creating such a project.

The movie is shown in a documentary style setting, with actual interviews of South Africans (and their views on refugees) interwoven into the film at various points. While movie magic makes it seem as if the actual interviewees were expressing intolerance and disgust towards the aliens, the actual racist undertones that linger on in South African society is not lost. Though the film is politically charged and proclaimed to be a take on racism, one cannot help but notice that there are some inherently racist aspects of the film that somewhat mar the final product. Wikus, the protagonist is a well off, heterosexual white male (as are most of the people in charge at the MNU, it seems) while the Africans on the “good” side are seen mostly occupying grunt jobs. Even the special response force in the helicopter is all white, it seems. To make matters worse, the only African who plays a significant role in the plot is a Nigerian arms dealer. Whether all this was intentional on Blomkamp’s part to highlight the inherent racism that still remains is unclear.

Another important point is that District 9 lacks any clear good guy; most viewers watch the film rooting for neither side, thanks to the inhuman portrayal of the humans and MNU and the rather graphic depictions of the aliens, which are referred to as “prawns” in a derogatory manner. Out of the two main protagonists, Wikus is more of an anti-hero compared to Christopher Johnson, an alien who’s surprisingly intelligent and humane character align him with the more traditional hero role. Wikus is initially thought of as the good guy, doing his job to protect humanity and serve MNU, though as the film progresses viewers begin to question Wikus’ morality, especially as his disdain for the aliens becomes clear.

To me, District 9 felt like a film that housed a lot more potential to explore the themes of racism and humanity, though I concede that films are meant to make money and people don’t go to the cinemas with the intention of taking a lesson in politics. Throughout the film I found Blomkamp’s casting of Wikus and Christopher most compelling, and I wished that their fates were properly concluded. But perhaps their endings are best left to a sequel.