Neill Blomkamp: The Director’s World

When pondering which cinematic world you wish to inhabit (hey – I was asked!), it’s doubtful that the name of director Neill Blomkamp springs to mind. But if the world is going to fall apart, and it’s safer to say ‘when’ than ‘if’, I’d like to have a little consistency to cling to, thank you! In films such as District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, Blomkamp tackles apartheid, totalitarianism, and class segregation through highly stylised dystopian imagery whose motifs bleed from film to film.

But without feeling the need to drop the dreaded “cinematic universe” tag, Blomkamp depicts a future where technology has evolved in unison across his films – whether through alien technology or human scientific advancements – in both weaponry and transport. Roughshod, battle worn, and graffiti’d, the look is unmistakably Blomkamp and symbolic of the human struggle.

However, as expertly modelled by Matt Damon in Elysium, biomechanical advances such as exoskeletons suggest that the Human Plus is an employable possibility, available in times of adversity. It’s an encouraging step forward and sign of affirmation in a world where humans evolve into cockroaches or “prawns” or are controlled by a militarised police force.

Although bleak, Blomkamp’s cinematic world emits light: it’s hope for the oppressed, it’s the fight for equality, and the unification against a common enemy. I can’t think what brought all this to mind.