‘District 9’ is as close to perfection as it gets
South Africa has been to hell and back during the past century. Famine, corruption, AIDS and the apartheid era have seriously hindered the country’s chances of becoming a serious player within the African continent. A few years ago, local director Neill Blomkamp produced a short film entitled Alive in Joburg, a 6-minute science fiction “documentary” that would eventually be expanded to become District 9. The aforementioned short was so well made that Peter Jackson commissioned Blomkamp to direct the ill-fated Halo movie, but when that project fell through, Jackson felt that his South African counterpart should have another shot at directing a full-length film.