Polokane, Souh Africa - In border regions near Zimbabwe a flood of refugees has created social tension and violence that shows that not everyone got the message behind the film District 9.
The New York Times reports of murders and vigilante action against the refugees, who are fleeing Zimbabwe's oppressive government and failed economy for the richer nation of South Africa. This has created social unrest and violence, the complete opposite of what the groundbreaking sci-fi allegory intended for society.
"It's a shame that less than six months after the such a historic and monumental moment in South African history, people are already forgetting the lessons of Wikus van de Merwe," said South African President Jacob Zuma.
The violence is tarnishing South Africa's reformed image as a place of racial equality. The image, put in place since the release of District 9 (and to a lesser extent with the end of apartheid in 1994), had raised South Africa's profile in the region. Now some fear that he violence could hinder the continent and plans to make a sequel to the film.
"While obviously another film based on District 9 is needed to deal with the violence, the social unrest will make it hard for others to suspend their disbelief. If South Africans are killing Zimbabweans, there's no way people can accept South Africans learning to get along with intergalactic cat-food eating space Prawns. The South African characters would be too unbelievable," said film critic Joseph Birey of the Cape Town Courier-Journal.
Some, however, feel that too much emphasis is being put on the importance of District 9 in solving racism in a nation with centuries of legal separation.
"District 9 is a film by a white director about white guilt for years of apartheid. You cannot solve all racial tension because of one film," said Bonnie VanGourd, Professor of White Guilt Studies at the University of Johannesburg, "What we need is to hire a black director to make a film about black guilt about violence against other blacks. Perhaps the sequel to District 9 should be created by a black director to reach the black audience."
Film critics are hoping a similar incident doesn't occur among the Na'vi on Pandora.
"It'd hurt to see the Na'vi forget the lessons of Jake Sully and go oppressively colonize another planet," Birey said.
