If there is any possibility of showing how human aliens can be and conversely, how completely alienated the human race can become, this is the movie that shows it.

District 9 - A little known, little budgeted, little touted movie from South Africa. The only recognisable name on the marquee - Peter Jackson. Not that the name played any part in persuading me to watch the movie in the first place.

How seamlessly the special effect-generated aliens blended into the scenes and how steadily, the alien"prawn" Christopher (yes, he was actually named Christopher) went from being threatening to sympathetic that somehow I ended up empathising with him more than the human, Wikus Van De Merwe. Poor Wikus who got infected with alien fuel and evolved into a prawn himself!

While District 9 has an alien "ET" who wanted to go home, it certainly is NOT a fuzzy child-friendly flick like Mr Spielberg's ET. District 9 raises questions about tolerance and the issue of human integrity. Perhaps because the heart of District 9 is in South Africa.

Having visited South Africa in the early 90s after the abolishment of apartheid; I can see a parallel between the way the aliens were ill-treated and how the the Africans were mistreated in the years of cruel racial segregation.

A racial struggle and intolerance that continues to be played out in many parts of the globe even in these so-called enlightened days. The crime of inhumanity continues to be perpetuated again and again as the human race alienates itself further and further...