Police Brutality In South Africa

In the still from District 9 we are presented with two MNU guards enforcing eviction notices upon the Prawns. This medium shit allows us to clearly see the stand point of both the Prawn and the MNU guards; we are able to see helicopters as well as the entire district along with the infamous mother ship in the background. In the image on the right we see the police physically dealing with a man by means of a violent beating; both images display the theme of Police brutality. ‘’ Negligent police management, poor training, disrespect for law and order, criminal members within police ranks and blatant disregard for internal disciplinary procedures are the chief causes behind the scourge of police brutality gripping South Africa.’’(Graeme Hosken,

The fear is that of an economic struggle due to a lack of service delivery by the government. In District 9 MNU serves to protect Alien rights and ensure that people accept the Aliens rather than discriminate against them. This is ironic as MNU is later seen to conduct experiments on the aliens treating them as guinea pigs; Wikus suffers the same fate as many of the aliens. The still from District 9 shows a police vehicle travelling through a haze of smoke and fire, the news headline states ‘’Alien Violence Escalates’’, this shows there were clashes between residents and the Prawns, It is a long shot so the viewer gets a good look at what is taking place, the cam video gives the news broadcast an original and authentic feel. The theme of Xenophobia in District 9 is heavily directed towards the Prawns as ‘’the other’’, very similar to how immigrants from neighboring African countries are treated within South Africa. Acts of violence and discrimination are common in both the film and the problems in

The aliens are very different compared to humans, if we look at the still from District 9; we have a medium shot of an Alien butchering a dead cows head for recreational purposes, this act of butchery and animalistic behaviour is largely frowned upon by the people in District 9. The Aliens are met with fear, hatred, treated unjustly and are not accepted by the majority of society. In South Africa the other can be seen as immigrants from neighboring African countries, these people are met with the same tag and treatment, they are seen as a threat to the jobs that most local people have, perceived to be different and are often met with unjust behaviour. In District 9 nearing the end of the movie we see a role change in ‘the other’ as Christopher Johnson an alien trying to save his people and his son reaches the mothership, we see Kobus on the cusp of killing Wikus. That final scene shows the brutality of the humans in District 9 and their unjust treatment of the Aliens out of fear. The Aliens are essentially harmless yet they are met with violence and fear, are they ‘the other’ or are the humans and their unjust treatment of the Aliens. In South Africa the treatment of foreign nationals and xenophobic violence leads us to believe that these immigrants are ‘the other’, they are foreign and shouldn’t coexist here, yet are the people inciting these unjust acts of violence truly