District 9: a review (sort of)

I'll leave a full review to those more adept - besides, there are already plenty of them. But I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, in large part for its unique premise which somehow contributed to the film's believability for me. One of the best films I've seen this year, no doubt.

I'm one to take notice of computers in movies - what they do, how they are used, etc. I watch intently when a computer screen appears, and always enjoy the filmmakers vision of the interface. For example, the way agents in the Bourne series can quickly drum up information of all sorts is both a contributor to the real-time suspense of the film and a thought provoking illustration of the power of data access (do you really think the NSA can operate as they do in Ultimatum? - I'm quite curious). HCI as a visual and plot element naturally comes into its own in Sci-fi. Despite this, I often find myself disappointed in the computer interfaces that appear in movies. Many movies, like Star Wars for example, completely lack any compelling vision of HCI. For all the droids and hyperdrive ships in the Star Wars galaxy, it is frustratingly unimaginative for all the cockpits to have panels of buttons no more advanced than those in submarines 30 years ago. Also, obsessive gadgetry too often takes the place of truly compelling technological ideas (Bond movies are particularly sickening in this respect, although, to be fair, they are not sci-fi).

The HCI elements in District 9 were well conceived and nicely integrated. There are few scenes featuring computer interaction, with most of the film brooding on the destitution of the slum environment, highlighted by the presence of the insect-like Prawns. But the few moments of HCI are immensely satisfying. The audience first sees a static hologram of the Prawns' home-world, but soon is offered a glimpse at a more interactive holographic interface when the main character, Wikus van de Merwe, takes the helm of the alien command module. Later Wikus climbs into a robotic suit that transforms him into an augmented fighting machine. While he is in the robot, a camera shot of his face with holographic elements hovering in front is revisited as the action unfolds. A particularly cool shot shows that bullets hitting the robot's armor are being represented to the pilot as orange disturbances in the holographic sphere that surrounds Wikus's head. As the robot suit becomes damaged over the course of the firefight, its stuttering movements reflect Wikus's growing exhaustion. In one of the final scenes, we see the Prawn Christopher Johnson taking over the controls of the command module where he expertly manipulates the holographic interface, which it seems to utilize all three dimensions for gesture recognition and allows manual manipulation of the floating holographic elements.

The plot of the movie revolves around the fact that only the Prawns can operate their advanced weapons, which are somehow activated by their DNA. At first I thought this to be a convenient (possibly cheap) plot element and nothing more. However, I think there is something very appealing about the idea that the Prawn technology is completely continuous with their biology. This vision of computer interaction is a coherent theme of the movie - we see it again when Wikus discovers that he must press his alien hand into a blob of goo to activate the command module's interface. Likewise, the robot suit autonomously kills a group of Nigerian gangsters before it offers Wikus, who at this point is half alien, the pilot seat. Wikus becomes increasingly competent with the suit during the combat scenes which parallels his accelerating transition to the alien form. Clearly these ideas are appealing for a disciple of extended mind philosophy, like myself, and for those who think of technology as augmentations of our biological capabilities.

Why is cool HCI such a great movie element? Interacting with computers is a universal experience (at least among those watching movies), and there is an easily appreciable thrill when a character casually interacts with a computer in a seamless manner. Our interactions with computers at the present time are far from seamless, but Hollywood's visions of computer interaction can play a role in inspiring thought about what computer interaction should be like. And sometimes the interfaces just look so damn good. All told, I'd say this movie should be considered a notable vision of HCI, probably second only to Minority Report* in that category.



* Minority Report was the first film to my knowledge to bring in HCI scientists, including Jason Lanier, to consult on the computer technologies depicted in the film. I'd be interested to hear who gave the creative direction in D-9.

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District 9 Official Trailer

Review of the film from New Scientist focusing on the science of the film.

[pdf] A Survey of Human-Computer Interaction Design in Science Fiction Movies (2008)