Director-Neill Blomkamp
SEE?
So you're an alien species. Your spaceship stalls out over South Africa. The South Africans armed with bullets and helicopters somehow manage to transport you from your ship to the slums of South Africa (shockingly in a black neighborhood!). I guess your superior technology is no match for hot-fired lead? Years pass and your race has declined in this filthy refugee camp reduced to eating cat food and trash and lacking any apparent desire to fix the spaceship, overthrow the humans and go home. (Um, okay. 'Cause who wouldn't want to live like that?) Meanwhile, humankind-all of them-black, white and indifferent- seem to have developed a virulent, anti-alien bias. I mean don't we all look for somebody else to point the finger at when times are tough? Faced with growing "Not-In-My-Backyard" sentiment, an evil corporation (is there any other kind?) commences a mission to remove the alien beings to a far, far away refugee camp. During said mission, a hapless corporate employee with a fairly "anti-alien" attitudes stumbles upon the only alien (in a camp of thousands), Christopher, with the know-how and a plan to make the debilitated alien ship operable.
Our hapless corporate employee manages to avert the plan to repair the stalled mothership by confiscating a "mysterious alien fluid. " Sadly, Hapless has no idea what the fluid is or that the plot exists. If he'd known, he probably wouldn't have opened the container before turning it over to the evil corporation. But, he did, thereby releasing the fluid which begins to transform Hapless into one of THEM-a prawn-like alien. Bummer. But a perfect opportunity for our bigoted corporate employee to learn first hand about the horrible treatment and squalid living conditions of these poor alien beings. Why, one might even take this opportunity-becoming what you hate the most-to broaden one's horizons, open one's eyes, change one's views. But not if you're turning into an alien who looks like a giant green shrimp! Not if your hair, teeth and nails are falling out! Not if your hand is turning into a claw. Not if your skin is turning into green scales. Did Jeff Goldblum's character suddenly develop a new respect for insects in The Fly? No! He was jut totally grossed out by his transformation and desperately wanted to get back to the meat-eating, insect crushing human that he was before. Anyhoo...
...I'll skip the whole part about how the half human, half alien hapless corporate employee is used by the evil corporation (and his evil father-in-law) to operate alien weapons. That's not the most interesting part of the story. Not to me anyway. What's really interesting is how Hapless and Christopher, the only alien who can fix the ship (in a camp of thousands), overcome mutual mistrust and work together to regain control of the mysterious fluid that will make the ship operational again. Well, almost. I won't spoil too much of the fascinating subplots (alien-eating Nigerians, anyone?). You'll have to decide for yourself, but I was left a little empty. Perhaps it was the "reality" which left me empty. You must ask yourself, "Why does Hapless help Christopher? Is it really because he's understood how wrong mankind's treatment of the aliens is? Or is it because he's been promised a return to a normal human life (albeit in three years)?" C'mon. You know the answer. Doesn't it make you kinda sad? Nice try, Neill. Overly simplistic, but nice try.
EAT.
Well, I haven't dined upon any cat food lately, but they do seem to offer and amazing variety of flavors, and the aliens sure seem to like it! Okay, never mind. Trust me. You'll be okay without eating for quite some time after seeing this one.
SHOP.
How about a course in tolerance? Learn to accept the aliens in your neighborhood. Learn better communication skills. Maybe sample some of their preferred cuisine. Can't we all just get along? Here's to learning to love your inner prawn..I mean alien-http://www.training-classes.com/learn/_k/c/u/l/cultural_sensitivity/.
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