The smiling face of President Jacob Zuma looks out from faded election posters on portable toilets. A hot air balloon sponsored by a bank and designed like a football hovers above it all.
SHOOT: Would be good if Blomkamp donated $1 to upgrading the conditions for the local community...
Rats crawl over piles of garbage. Washing is hung out to dry under an electricity pylon. Three donkeys peer over a fence improvised from rusted mattress springs. A small boy rides inside a black rubbish bin that his father hopes will pass as a baby buggy.
Strewn with beer bottles, broken glass and giant cacti, this blasted landscape is the stuff of post-apocalyptic science fiction. So perhaps it is no surprise that Chiawelo, an informal settlement in Soweto, is the backdrop to District 9, the hit sci-fi blockbuster of the season.
The $30-million film has grossed $90-million so far and has earned rave reviews as a thrilling allegory of apartheid and xenophobia.
It has also given the people of Chiawelo an unlikely place in film history. The community, which lacks electricity and running water, gazed in wonder at the arrival of film crew and set-builders. The spectacle of actors dressed up as aliens caused surprise, and even some alarm.
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clipped from www.mg.co.za
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