Alive in Joburg

Plot and themes

In 1990, Johannesburg is home to a number of extraterrestrial refugees, whose large spaceships (estimated to be nearly one kilometre in length) can be seen hovering above the city. When the visitors arrived, the human population was enamored with, among other aspects, the aliens' advanced "bio-suits", and supposedly welcomed them with open arms. However, later, the aliens began moving into other areas of the city, committing crimes in order to survive, and frequently clashing with the police. Playing as a documentary, the film continues, complete with interviews and footage taken from handheld cameras, highlighting the growing tension between the civilian population and the visitors, especially once the ships began to steal electricity and other resources from the city.

According to individuals "interviewed" in the film, the aliens were captive labor (slaves or indentured servants), forced to live in "conditions that were not good" and had escaped to Earth. Because the film takes place in 1990, while apartheid was still in effect in South Africa, the aliens were forced to live amongst the already-oppressed black population, causing conflict with them as well as the non-white and white populations.

All of the interview statements which do not explicitly mention extraterrestrials were taken from authentic interviews with many South Africans who had been asked their opinions of Zimbabwean refugees.

The aliens

The alien species in Alive in Joburg are never named, speak in an undefined language, and are frequently referred to simply as "them" or "the aliens". One citizen referred to them as "the poleepkwa". In their biosuits, they resembled bipedal, humanoid robots. Outside of their suits, their most obvious non-human features are a lack of hair and ears, and protruding tentacles where a human's mouth would be. In the film, the area where one would expect eyes to be is pixelated, though in a later scene an alien with unpixelated eyes is shown.

One scene early in the film, shown as television news footage, shows an alien wearing a mecha-suit fending off an attack by two police officers by throwing vehicles at them.

Legacy

After shooting Alive in Joburg, Neill Blomkamp was hired to direct a coming movie based on the Halo video game, produced by Peter Jackson. The movie was never produced, but Blomkamp managed to convince Jackson to produce a movie based on some plot ideas he had. This movie became District 9, and incorporated some ideas from Alive in Joburg. It was released on August 14, 2009 by Sony Pictures, directed by Neill Blomkamp with executive production by Peter Jackson, and featuring Sharlto Copley and Jason Cope, who also were involved in Alive in Joburg. District 9 was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.