It was the perfect sci-fi interpretation of racism, xenophobia and militarization of police.
And all through the lens of a bunch of disgusting, prawn-looking aliens in South Africa.District 9was something else.
I loved it it because I didn't feel like I was learning about stuff but that's the beauty of it. But there are a bunch of things you missed about the movie that you should know, such as...
1. The movie only got made after the director's plan to make a Halomovie based on the video game in 2001 fell through.
Producer Peter Jackson went to him and offered him $30 million to make whatever he wanted.
2. The movie is banned in Nigeria because it portrayed some Nigerians as gangsters and cannibals.
3. The director made five alternate endings for the movie but one of them was so embarrassing that the director Neill Blomkamp won't even talk about it.
"No one will ever see that ending."
4. The bumbling main character was played by a dude who had had never acted before – or even wanted to act.
Sharlto Copley only got the role after director Neill Blomkamp placed him on-camera during a short film.
5. One of the most unsettling parts of filming was that the gross animal carcasses in the background were REAL.
And the film crew shot in real slums and shacks. The residents were moved to better government housing soon after.
6. In The Book Of Mormon, the musical produced by the creators of South Park, the Mormon missionaries are sent to District 9 in Uganda.
Uganda is on the same continent as South Africa. Coincidence?
7. If you look closely you'll notice that the alien ship was hovering in Johannesburg for twenty-eight years.
The time-stamp in the first "documentary" scene shows 1982/06/01 while the eviction operation (when the movie starts) was on 2010/09/08.
8. The prawn-looking aliens were supposed to have tentacles on their faces and were going to be people in suits.
Eventually they ditched the face tentacles and used CGI.
9. The clicking noises that the aliens were made by rubbing pumpkins together.
10. In fact, the language was based on real tribal languages of southern Africa including Zulu and Xhosa that have clicks in them.
11. The idea of the prawn aliens liking cat food came from one of the producers using it to bait traps to fish for real prawns in Vancouver.
12. The movie was based on a REAL historical INCIDENT. District 6 was a mixed-race neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa.
No aliens but the apartheid government demolished District 6 in 1966 to make room for white people.
13. During the promotional campaign of the movie, there were posters that read "restricted for humans only" put up all across North America and the United Kingdom but no mention of the movie's title.
But the name of the movie wasn't used regularly. The posters had a number to call if there were non-humans there. It was 866.666.6001 in the US, 0207 148 7468 in the UK.
14. Main character Sharlto Copley ad-libbed all his lines during the “documentary” scenes.
I'm going to go back and re-watch this movie!
COMMENT and tell us what you loved about District 9!
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