I can't wait for D9 to open here (this Fri). I have not seen the film – but I can tell you that Post Apartheid Johannesburg is a real African mixing pot of a city. You've got a little piece of every African Nation plus others from every continent – some first generation, some who've been here since the 1800's… It's a bit like New York but Africanised to the limit! Anyway – I guess the Nigerians do get a bad press globally and in South Africa it's no different – Unfortunately the truth is that they are behind some crazy stuff here more often than not – and none of it pleasant. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/…

He could have blamed Zimbaweans or a made up a name… but I guess selling the Nigerians as gangsters is an easy sell….

What the reviewer might have missed is that during the filming of this movie in 2008, our country experienced terrible xenophobic violence – predominately poor south africans fighting with poor foreigners – when you're living in a slum and the competition for survival reaches a certain point, somethings gonna give… and unfortunately this occured – a couple hundered foreigners were killed in the mayhem – with the South African government either denying it initially, then slowly taking action (Much like your Katrina response).. anyway … I think the film can be seen as an anlogy to this as well – how PEOPLE treat others badly more often than not… Is this the real Humanity?

I would recommend you google a few issues on http://www.google.co.za, ticking the South Africa Only box – and check out what is actually happening here… you'll be both saddened and amazed. As much as we're one nation and are making great strides since the 'bad ol days' of the white regime – we are as much mired in that past as well – and continue to blame each other… As an example.. just check out the local press on the Semeya issue (world champion female athlete of questionable gender – suddenly it's a racial slur….) Thanks guys

I can't wait for D9 to open here (this Fri). I have not seen the film – but I can tell you that Post Apartheid Johannesburg is a real African mixing pot of a city. You've got a little piece of every African Nation plus others from every continent – some first generation, some who've been here since the 1800's… It's a bit like New York but Africanised to the limit! Anyway – I guess the Nigerians do get a bad press globally and in South Africa it's no different – Unfortunately the truth is that they are behind some crazy stuff here more often than not – and none of it pleasant. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/…

He could have blamed Zimbaweans or a made up a name… but I guess selling the Nigerians as gangsters is an easy sell….

What the reviewer might have missed is that during the filming of this movie in 2008, our country experienced terrible xenophobic violence – predominately poor south africans fighting with poor foreigners – when you're living in a slum and the competition for survival reaches a certain point, somethings gonna give… and unfortunately this occured – a couple hundered foreigners were killed in the mayhem – with the South African government either denying it initially, then slowly taking action (Much like your Katrina response).. anyway … I think the film can be seen as an anlogy to this as well – how PEOPLE treat others badly more often than not… Is this the real Humanity?

I would recommend you google a few issues on http://www.google.co.za, ticking the South Africa Only box – and check out what is actually happening here… you'll be both saddened and amazed. As much as we're one nation and are making great strides since the 'bad ol days' of the white regime – we are as much mired in that past as well – and continue to blame each other… As an example.. just check out the local press on the Semeya issue (world champion female athlete of questionable gender – suddenly it's a racial slur….) Thanks guys

I can't wait for D9 to open here (this Fri). I have not seen the film – but I can tell you that Post Apartheid Johannesburg is a real African mixing pot of a city. You've got a little piece of every African Nation plus others from every continent – some first generation, some who've been here since the 1800's… It's a bit like New York but Africanised to the limit! Anyway – I guess the Nigerians do get a bad press globally and in South Africa it's no different – Unfortunately the truth is that they are behind some crazy stuff here more often than not – and none of it pleasant. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/…

He could have blamed Zimbaweans or a made up a name… but I guess selling the Nigerians as gangsters is an easy sell….

What the reviewer might have missed is that during the filming of this movie in 2008, our country experienced terrible xenophobic violence – predominately poor south africans fighting with poor foreigners – when you're living in a slum and the competition for survival reaches a certain point, somethings gonna give… and unfortunately this occured – a couple hundered foreigners were killed in the mayhem – with the South African government either denying it initially, then slowly taking action (Much like your Katrina response).. anyway … I think the film can be seen as an anlogy to this as well – how PEOPLE treat others badly more often than not… Is this the real Humanity?

I would recommend you google a few issues on http://www.google.co.za, ticking the South Africa Only box – and check out what is actually happening here… you'll be both saddened and amazed. As much as we're one nation and are making great strides since the 'bad ol days' of the white regime – we are as much mired in that past as well – and continue to blame each other… As an example.. just check out the local press on the Semeya issue (world champion female athlete of questionable gender – suddenly it's a racial slur….) Thanks guys

I probably am overanalyzing this. But look for me to climb my soapbox again next week regarding QT, Jews, and Nazis. Woo-hoo!

I understand to a degree the point you're making about not trusting a white South African speaking about the reality of race and ethnicity in South Africa, but having known and lived with black South Africans(especially before apartheid ended), those folks preferred living in S.A., because at least the racism was overt, out in the open, as opposed to here in the States, where people stifle their feelings due to political correctness, then sometimes end up becoming living powder kegs later because of it.

Again, these aren't the worse portraits of blacks in recent cinema…Michael Bay did far worse in two Transformers films.

http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/alien_nation/

There's this bit, taken from Salon:

“O’Hehir: You know, these images are pretty uncomfortable, especially for Americans who tend to be so careful in public discussions of race: Here’s a white guy from South Africa making a movie with scary, murderous black African villains.

Blomkamp: Sure, I’m totally aware of that. … Unfortunately, that’s the reality of it, and it doesn’t matter how politically correct or politically incorrect you are. 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.”

I'm still not satisfied, though. I guess I'll never fully trust a white South African telling me about the “reality” of race and ethnicity in South Africa, particularly when that reality seems to be derived from the grossest stereotypes, from here and abroad.

And the more I think about, the more the timeframe bugs me. If Blomkamp really wanted to address the problems of contemporary South Africa, he might have started the movie in 1994, post-apartheid. Starting it in the early 80s (as the video timestamps would indicate), when apartheid was in full swing, confuses the issue. Is there no human apartheid in Blomkamp's South Africa? Or is the prawn menace so terrible the alien apartheid displaced it? “Largely a post-apartheid parable” doesn't cut it, either, nor does Blomkamp's I-wasn't-really-there youth. It's very muddled, politically, which detracts from the artistry.

http://robertcashill.blogspot.com/

On a lighter note, Copley reminded me of Steve Carell on THE OFFICE. In fact, if this had been a straight-to-video item up for a US remake, I could see Carell playing it (and getting all kinds of praise for the creative leap).