Hacker Cinema
Alive in Joburg
2005 · Film · short · 6 min
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
A documentary-style short film about the arrival of an alien spaceship over Johannesburg, South Africa.
2 neutralfrom 2 commenters
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2 comments on Hacker News
Keep in mind Blomkamp is South African, and his last major film (District 9) had similar themes. It was also released in 2009, well before OWS came into existence. It's clear that whatever politics Blomkamp holds, it comes from from growing up in apartheid South Africa. His first work featuring the themes of poverty, wealth disparity, and racial inequality predate OWS by at least six years (see: the short Alive in Joburg, which is basically the direct predecessor of District 9).
So while Blomkamp may share some politics with OWS, it's silly to suggest he borrowed them from OWS or the recent politics of the last couple of years.
Side note: the fact that his sci-fi allegories of apartheid-era South Africa has enough in parallel with present-day America to inspire suspicion, is troubling.
District 9 is an expansion of ideas that Blomkamp first explored in Alive in Joburg, which was released in 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_in_Joburg
And as the previous comment notes, this movie is not quite just an apartheid allegory. That would be too easy. Instead, it's largely about present-day Johannesburg, with its massive population of unwanted illegal immigrants, its poverty and its horrific xenophobia. Just a few months ago black foreigners were being burnt and hacked to death in Johannesburg's streets, so the attitudes this movie alludes to have a fair bit of immediacy.
Honestly, this is one of the few movies I've seen recently that I feel perfectly confident in recommending to anyone. It truly is excellent.