District 9

You know, after last year's corporate,

my wife was always encouraging me.

You know, she said: you did fine,

you did fine in the corporate.

I was a bit nervous.

This little guy... hello. Sorry.

That's nice, eh? Nice background

with the people there...

We are here at the... must I look..?

-Just look straight at the lens.

We are here at the...

MNU head office,

Department of Alien Affairs.

My name is Wikus Van De Merwe.

And behind me you can see

the Alien Affairs' workers.

And what we do here

at this department is...

we try to engage with the Prawn

on behalf of MNU

and on behalf of humans.

To everyone's surprise,

the ship didn't come to a stop

over Manhattan

or Washington or Chicago,

but instead it costed to a halt

directly over the city of Johannesburg.

The doors didn't open for 3 months.

It just hovered there. Nobody could get in.

And they eventually decided,

after much deliberation,

that the best thing to do would be

to physically cut their way in.

We were on the verge

of first contact.

The whole world was watching.

Expecting, I don't know...

...music from heaven

and bright shining lights.

Oh my God!

The creatures were

extremely malnourished,

they were very unhealthy,

they seemed to be aimless.

There was a lot of international

pressure on us at the time.

The entire world was

looking at Johannesburg,

so we had to do the right thing.

The government then established

an aid group that started to

ferry the aliens to a temporary camp

set up just beneath the ship.

We didn't have a plan.

There was a million of them.

So, what was a temporary

holding zone soon became fenced,

became militarized. And before

we knew it, it was a slum.

But the truth is, nobody really

knew what this place was.

There's a lot of secrets

in District 9.

At first, a lot of attention

was given to...

giving the aliens a proper status

and protection.

They're spending so much money

to keep them here.

When they could be spending it

on other things, but...

...at least they're keeping them

separate from us.

l want to be realistic with everyone.

The aliens will not be able to go home.

The aliens are here to stay.

There were literally thousands

of different theories

as to why the ship seemed inoperable,

and what was speculated was that

the command module had detached

itself from the main ship,

and then somehow

mysteriously became lost.

Did it fall by itself or was it

programmed? I don't know.

Examination of the

old video footage

shows very clearly

that a piece falls from the ship.

We look for it.

We look everywhere.

This piece that's falling

caused us bloody problems.

More energy weapon caches found.

The Special task force

conducted raids in District 9.

Where there's a weapon, there's crime.

Tensions rose, and rose.

People became more and more fed up,

and eventually the rioting started.

Residents in Tembisa rioted

for the third consecutive night

in an attempt to remove

all the aliens from their township.

I think they must fix that ship

and they must go.

A virus, a selective virus.

Release it near the aliens.

They must just go.

I don't know where, just go.

If they was from another country

we might understand.

But they are not

even from this planet.

The government have enforced

a nationwide curfew.

The aliens, prawns,

they take my wife away.

The derogatory term Prawn is used

for the alien, and obviously it implies

something that is a bottom feeder,

that scavenges the leftovers.

I mean, you can't say

they don't look like that.

That's what they look like, right?

They look like prawns.

The aliens made off with an undisclosed

amount of cash. One bystander was hurt.

What for an alien might be seen

as something recreational,

setting fire to a truck,

derailing a train,

is for us obviously

an extremely destructive act.

They can take the sneakers

you are wearing off you.

They take whatever you have on you.

Your cell phone or anything.

After that they kill you.

And now, after 20 years, public

pressure had forced the government

to shift the aliens

out of Johannesburg.

They had had enough and they

wanted District 9 to be moved,

and more intensively

policed and controlled.

So, to enforce this mass eviction,

the government turned to MNU.

Welcome all

and thank you for coming.

Please listen very closely

to this briefing.

Today we start a very complex

and delicate operation.

This is the largest operation

that MNU has ever undertaken,

and we believe that it is going

to be undertaken successfully.

It is to move 1.8 million prawns

from their present home in District 9

to a safer and better location

Johannesburg City.

We built a nice new facility

where the prawn can go,

he can be comfortable,

he can stay there...

The people of Johannesburg and

of South Africa are going to live

happily and safely, knowing that

that prawn is very far away.

UIO protocol dictates

that we give the aliens

of our right to evict.

Today, you will serve these notices

getting the aliens to sign I-27 form.

The legality that MNU is using to evict

the aliens is simply a whitewash.

I'm going to appoint a field officer

to take direct command.

Wikus Van De Merwe.

Everybody always said that

Wikus was not a very smart boy,

but he was a wonderful son.

That was my Wikus, just...

Feels like life on the big stage.

Thank you Piet... Mr Smith.

l had to put aside the fact that

my daughter was married to Wikus.

That didn't affect my decision

to promote him.

It's almost as big as my wedding day.

You know... not as big.

Wikus was always making me things.

He said that way

they just mean so much more.

He left this paper-mache bowl

on the sofa one day

and I didn't see it and I sat down,

and I... kinda squashed it.

They took all his stuff away

for the investigation, and...

I made them bring it all back.

Hey, congratulations, man!

-Thanks, man.

Okay, we're gonna go to District.

-Wikus! -How is it going, man?

Here's the shake.

B9 for you. -Thanks.

I'm not saying

what he did was right, but...

he took the choices

that were given to him.

This is Trent.

Fundiswa, Trent. -Hi.

Fundiswa is the guy that

I've selected to replace me.

If he can make it today, eh?

-I'll make it.

I just want everyone

watching this right now

to learn from what has happened.

-You would think...

things like this would happen

to somebody else, not to me.

How is it going, man? Long time,

mate. Have you got my stuff?

Hey, boss! -How is it going?

-I'm all right, boss.

Good, good, this is Fundiswa.

He is driving with us today.

I think I was disgusted with

the way he worked.

There was always just a hint

of something not quite kosher

with mr Van De Merwe.

-Nobody saw it coming at all.

None of us had any idea

of what he was doing.

l think it is a great

thing to see that...

it's not the military guys

in charge this time.

Not to say that Koobus

and his cowboys are not wanted.

You guys are always wanted.

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