It hits home for Blomkamp

Like Alive In Joburg, District 9 tackles themes and ideas drawn directly from the director’s birthplace.

“I was a science-fiction nut when I was growing up in Johannesburg.” he tells Rolling Stone. “I just wanted to see that kind of imagery in a third world setting with the complex political history of South Africa. I'm not trying to beat people over the head.”

"These aliens arrived 20 years ago in a dead, derelict mothership, which hovers above Johannesburg. It's enormous, like the size of 10 football fields,” Jackson explains.

At first, all seems exciting, as the stranded aliens possess weapons that every government on Earth would like to get their hands on. But things quickly go downhill.

“The aliens have ended up in a Soweto-style township beneath the ship. It's clear that they're not really integrating into society. They like to scavenge things, rip up train tracks.

“So the authorities shift them 200 miles away, into the African belt. They've built a concentration camp. The residents of Joburg want them gone."

But just because it has otherworldly visitors, don’t go expecting OTT spectacle…