The Stranger

District 9 begins with a broken spaceship full of shit-covered, malnourished aliens as it appears over Johannesburg, South Africa. Initially the aliens are moved into a refugee camp, but years later, the government, working with MNU, a multinational arms manufacturer, decides to relocate the aliens—disparagingly referred to as "prawns" for their mollusk-like appearance—to a new camp outside of Johannesburg. MNU desk jockey Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) gets drafted to lead the relocation effort and, while serving eviction notices in the camp, comes down with a nasty alien virus, which begins turning him into a "prawn." Things only get worse from there. Whoever bankrolled District 9 is either a brilliant madman (or woman) or is trying to get fired. District 9 is violent (vaporizations abound), it's subtitled (even though almost everyone speaks English in a thick South African warble), and it's an allegorical exploration of apartheid and xenophobia (with crazy robot suits!). By Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

See full review »