This movie feels more like a gritty movie about South Africa than it does about aliens. It feels closer to movies like “City of God” and “Hotel Rwanda” than your typical sci-fi.
In the film, a derelict alien ship drifts into the skies above Johannesburg. A community of aliens are found inside, not plotting a siege or looking to make friends, just sort of stuck there and abandoned. They are moved to the ghettos of the city and essentially treated as annoying refugees that need to be isolated and ignored. Meanwhile their weapons and technology are irresistible to those who want to exploit it even though humans are unable to use any of it.
We are constantly shown the ugly side of humanity and it is easy to believe that these visitors would wind up experiencing the worst we have to offer. As they say in the beginning, there was no grand first contact, no exchange of goodwill, no dramatic meeting of the worlds. Just ugliness and cruelty. It was refreshing to see a movie that did not just present another “aliens are out to take over” or “aliens are here to show us how to love” kind of sci-fi nonsense. But at the same time it presented a very hopeless and all-too-real vision of man’s capacity for horrible behavior. At the end of the film I felt almost exhausted from the tension and misery.
Still it was a very well-done film and presented an interesting story. I appreciate that the aliens and their world was treated so normally and fluid with the rest of the actors and scenery.
