A "Real" Sci-Fi Flick in Africa?
I usually don't get riled up to see action movies, never feeling the compulsion to sit through the loud sound effects, hard blows, and blood-everywhere scenes; but I got excited about District 9. The reviews were all a-buzz about it too. Here was a sci-fi action movie set in South Africa, using local, un-seasoned actors on a ridiculously low budget for this genre. What's more, who associates science fiction, much less modernity, with Africa? My interest was piqued. Then I started hearing things about "the Nigerians." First, my partner, all chuckles begged me to see it. According to him, they really indulged in the portrayal of our national reputation for criminality. A good friend of mine insisted, with full outrage, that I go straight to the theatre and see for myself...yet another film produced with white protagonists and Africans as silent, buffoonish props.
Then, I read the Salon interview (August 12th). I had to go. In the interview the filmmaker, Neill Blomkamp, "insisted he had no specific allegorical, ironic or didactic message to deliver;" but the interviewer, Andrew O'Hehir, was not persuaded and after seeing the film, neither was I. The film's scenarios play on structures and events all too real. The aliens evoke unwanted Zimbabwean refugees; the Nigerians play their part, satisfying the South African stereotype of them as crude, violent thugs; and then there is the superstructure of the Apartheid past (and present). It was definitely an allegorical movie. At least Peter Jackson and Mark Johnson had the good taste not to beat us over the head while they offered us the well-known and well-loved allegorical tales of Lord of the Rings and Narnia.
When asked pointedly what I thought of "the Nigerians," my response is that Blomkamp's portrayal is more laughable than provocative. I immediately doubted their authenticity when they spoke among themselves in an unrecognizable Nigerian tongue. Furthermore, it bordered on outright mockery when the ringleader of the Nigerian gang inside District 9 was called Obasanjo, the surname of the recent, corrupt ex-president of Nigeria. Yes, Nigerians have a bad reputation, maintaining the esteemed position of being the most corrupt nation for more than a decade running. It is hard to defend that. But, as with all stereotypes, that is only our worst possible side. Nigerians are also one of the most industrious and successful African immigrant populations wherever we go, providing some of the highest numbers of doctors, lawyers, and scientists from the continent (a good many contributing to the South African economy).
Blomkamp's response to pushing potential buttons: "Unfortunately, that's the reality of it... The bottom line is that there are huge Nigerian crime syndicates in Johannesburg. I wanted the film to feel real, to feel grounded, and I was going to incorporate as much of contemporary South Africa as I wanted to, and that's just how it is." He seems to think he offered a real portrayal of Nigerians in South Africa.
The parallels between the Western sci-fi imagination and colonialism are noticeable. Much like astronauts are often portrayed as brave soldiers who leave their home for the deep unknown, Africa has been the darkness into which many intrepid colonial sailors have leapt. The aliens are usually gruesome (Aliens), war-like (Predator), and individuality is presented as a sacrifice for conformity (the Borg in the Star Trek series). The Africans in District 9, like many of the Africans portrayed in Tarzan and films set in Africa since, are a silent mass; except of course when they step forward as brutish antagonists or buffoonish assistants. "The Nigerians" and the single black South African commentator fall right in line with this trajectory. Some fearless astronauts live to tell their tale and some don't. Blomkamp's travel and tale is like an astronaut's, having returned to earth with a victorious but gory tale. District 9 should be noted as a sci-fi movie that took place in Africa. Unfortunately, this sci-fi flick carried with it the same unimaginative, othering gaze Western media production reserves for primitive, carnal Africa.
The potential for innovation and creative intervention with District 9 fell short, making a crude observation of South African Society rather than an argument about it, let alone an analysis of it. If his intention was to make a good sci-fi action movie and only that, it worked to a point. Folks don't go to an action film to think or ponder such heavy and important social questions like racism, xenophobia, immigration, or apartheid. They go for the sound effects, the blood and the gore. That we were asked to think, and do so with less-than compelling representations of these problems, is a little unfair, especially when we pay and expect to see a sci-fi flick. Engaging the very real and complicated social and political issues embedded in modern South Africa is a courageous thing to undertake. However, it is dangerous to merely observe or portray such a society without being held accountable for the issues or debates that will surely ensue from such an endeavor.
Was Blomkamp trying to do too much? He is clearly aware of the very steep issues facing South African society: "When we started filming the movie, we had this terrible situation where we woke up one morning to find out that Johannesburg was eating itself alive. Impoverished South Africans had started murdering impoverished Zimbabweans, necklacing them and burning them and chopping them up. That's a very serious piece of contemporary South African society that also finds its way into the film: some impoverished citizens wanting other impoverished citizens out." Note: it was not the Nigerians chopping anyone up. Yes, this is a very serious piece of contemporary South African reality. We are barely able to make sense of it in real time and space. How much more difficult could it be to portray it in fiction? Blomkamp assigned himself a tough challenge, and he took a risk. This is laudable. However, Blomkamp makes it easy to render this film as yet another example of a film set in Africa, with Africa and Africans providing the tableau for white imagination and action. I can only speak from the position of a viewer; and this viewer is weary of the cyclical representations of Africa. I am thirsty for more satiating and compelling dramas, with Africans portraying themselves in contemplative and serious ways, without the mockery or deference usually ascribed to unspeaking, placid actors. We are again left starving for African voices to work out our own problems.