District 9 - discussion guide

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Summary

South Africa is now home to thousands of alien refugees. Their ship was accidentally marooned over Johannesburg 28 years ago. For partly humanitarian but mainly selfish reasons, the government decided to keep them here and to segregate them in a township called District 9. The area is policed by a private corporation called Multi-National United (MNU), whose chief interest is discovering how their weapons work.

Due to public anxiety, MNU decide to move the aliens to another facility. Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an MNU bureaucrat, is put in charge of this operation. Whilst distributing eviction notices to the aliens, he is contaminated by a chemical that begins to change his DNA. As Wikus mutates into someone who can activate alien weapons, he becomes the most wanted man in the world and is forced to seek refuge in District 9.

Background

Neill Blomkamp’s directorial debut has been heralded by some critics as a science-fiction classic. Out of 232 reviews collated on Rotten Tomatoes, 90% are positive. The film ranked first at the box office for its opening weekend in both the USA and UK. Critics have praised its character-driven plot and technical brilliance.

The ground-breaking cinematography combines real news videos with mockumentary footage and shaky hand-held camerawork with official videos. Blomkamp explains how this affects the viewer’s experience: ‘Essentially, the film bounces from our story, which is obviously fictional, to a sort of ultra‐real mode. . . . The movie fluctuates between something that feels like a film and something that feels bizarrely real.’[1]

Copley insisted that they filmed in the townships in Johannesburg. Blomkamp and Copley are both South African but, although connections between the film and apartheid are blatant, they maintain that it is not a direct metaphor. The film has a broader scope than that; it taps into personal prejudices as well as national ones.

Questions for Discussion

1. What did you think of the film? How did it make you feel? What do you think it did well?

2. What did you think of the way it was filmed?

3. What were your first impressions of the aliens? Did your impression of them change? If so, why and in what way?

4. What were your first impressions of the MNU? Did they change? If so, at what point?

5. Do you think it was necessary to set the film in South Africa? What did this add to the narrative?

6. Some of the interviews shown in the film were taken from real news footage. Does this surprise you? Do you think refugees are sometimes treated as sub-human? If so, why?

7. To what extent do you think that prejudice is a global problem? Do you think that everyone harbours prejudices of some form?

8. Did you identify with Wikus? Do you think you would have reacted to his situation in similar ways? In what ways is he the hero of the film?

9. How did you respond to Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope)? Were you surprised at some of the emotions he showed? In what ways is he more of a hero than Wikus?

10. What were some of the things that dehumanised people in the film (i.e. MNU, Koobus (David James), the Nigerian gangs, Wikus)? In what ways?

11. What do you think the film is saying about the nature of humanity?

12. The Bible says that Jesus ‘understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin’ (Hebrews 4:15). It points to him as the greatest example of what a human life should look like. Why do you think that is? Do you agree? Why or why not?

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