I love any faux documentary - I don't call it a mockumentary, because it's anything but mocking. Especially when it addresses such deeply rooted cultural and racial issues - and even more so when the roles of good and bad get reversed, and there is no seemingly "happy" ending. "District 9" did all that and more. Director Neill Blomkamp, born in South Africa where the film takes place, captures the documentary style from beginning to end, complete with quality of the image, shaky camera work, and candid interview style of the unlikely participants of this sad story.
The new history, including racial slurs for the aliens (called "prawns") is cleverly woven into our own reality. In addition, the setting of South Africa adds another level of reality (at least for myself) when watching it halfway across the world in North America. It's different than Wil Smith's "Independance Day" which I can disprove just by looking out my window (or I felt like I could when I lived on the East Coast).
Also in documentary style, there is no real ending, much less a happy one, but more of life going on. Wikus (Sharlto Copley) doesn't die, but he doesn't make it to the ship to get the promised cure either; the alien and his young child do get away, but leave the rest of their poor comrades behind. Who are then relocated to yet another, smaller, camp (reminiscent of the Japanese interment camps after WWII). "District 9" leaves the audience with more to think and ponder about how we act as individuals and a culture, though not a lot of hope.
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