16 Years Ago, This Sci-Fi Flick Was So Good That Everyone Is Still Waiting for the Sequel
Neill Blomkamp's debut feature was an instant hit, establishing the director as one of the leading voices in sci-fi over the past decade.
This movie can be classified as both space and social science fiction. On the one hand it is about first contact and aliens, on the other hand it is a very transparent allegory of real problems. In both respects it is very original – there has never been anything like it in world cinema.
District 9 Is Still One of the Most Unique Sci-Fi Projects
With District 9, director and screenwriter Neill Blomkamp made his debut on the big screen. It is actually a sequel to his short film Alive in Joburg. Peter Jackson saw it, was impressed and put up 30 million for the debut – not a big budget by the standards of Hollywood sci-fi.
But Neill gave a real master class in "how to make a good movie without money." He shot the film in a pseudo-documentary style, relying not on special effects but on story and acting.
What Is District 9 About?
A UFO hovers with its hazard lights on over Johannesburg, a troubled South African metropolis. The shape and size of the object resemble an oil refinery, packed to the brim with nimble, unpleasant looking aliens.
The aliens have been herded into a displaced persons camp, District 9, which, after twenty years of anything but peaceful coexistence with humans, has become a danger zone.
The protagonist works in an alien control office and has no sympathy for them. But he gets to know them and himself from an unexpected side and discovers that the line between human and alien is thinner than it seemed.
District 9 Has Sparked a Heated Debate Among Fans
Immediately after the release of District 9, as is often the case with a big movie, a huge fan base formed, asking a lot of questions. And the Internet was filled with theories explaining the appearance of the aliens and the purpose of their arrival on Earth.
One of the most interesting ones says that the aliens are ordinary slaves, bred by the real owners of the spaceship from a certain captured race. And the ship was designed to search for and capture new servants, and hovered over Johannesburg for just that purpose.
The alien Christopher differs from his other relatives in intelligence and repairs the command module that controls the spaceship in order to take it into space for reinforcements. He is probably the last of the original aliens on the command staff.
Neill Blomkamp never confirmed or denied the viral fan theory, but the assumption sounds very convincing.
So the appearance of District 10, in which an alien fleet returns to Earth with plans of conquest supported by the aliens remaining on the planet's surface, could be a very modern solution.
Fans Still Waiting for the Second Part of District 9
The sequel to District 9 has been awaited for over 15 years – the film broke the genre mold, offering acute realism and social criticism instead of tired tropes.
Blomkamp has talked about plans for a sequel more than once and even developed a draft script, but for now, audiences are content with the director's side projects. The world of District 9 has yet to be properly explored.