Review of Elysium (2013) by Furiousyt — 13 Aug 2013

This aside, Blomkamp’s ideas are still deeply rooted in his native South Africa and his Afrikaner heritage, and in Elysium he sticks it hard to his own people. The leading bad-guy, “Kruger”, with his thick Afrikaner accent, is cast as an evil, violent relic of Apartheid. "Kruger" is of course an allusion to Paul Kruger, the father of the nationalist Afrikaner homeland that was eventually brought down by the British in 1902. Similar to the aims of the French FN party, Kruger’s short-lived Transvaal Republic was established with the intent of preserving Afrikaans culture from invading British and native black cultures. Sadly, it failed. (As did eventually Apartheid, nearly 20 years ago- but apparently Apartheid can never really die in the minds of liberals such as Blomkamp, as they always need some kind of white racist whipping boy at their disposal on which to blame the world’s ills, nevermind the profound failures and overt racism found in many black/minority run governments, especially South Africa.).

Good riddance say the multi-culturalist pot melters. But their own native culture is precisely what nearly every modern nation (rich and poor) is struggling desperately to preserve, as the forces of globalization slowly erase borders, slamming cultures together in unnatural ways. It is mostly among self-righteous progressives in the West that such efforts at cultural preservation are sneeringly viewed as elitism and racism. The actual view on the ground is very different.

Let’s take modern-day South Africa, which has a very real immigration problem. Because of its relative economic success compared to the rest of Africa, South Africa is viewed as a land of opportunity for other Africans- similar to the USA, except that the unwashed hordes yearning to be free flow in from the north, rather than the south. But legal and illegal immigration into South Africa has caused a very negative reaction among native people in the country- mostly from poorer blacks, who fear that the even poorer blacks from the north, who are willing to work for even lower wages, will take precious jobs away from the natives. There have been gruesome attacks on immigrants by angry black South Africans. Social scientists call this phenomenon “xenophobia”, but Africans know this simply as “tribalism” (which is just hate/racism without the litmus of color) and which has been a long-standing feature on the continent.

Of course, this kind of intra-minority intolerance flies in the face of liberal mythology, and thus does not get any airtime in Elysium. At least in District 9, Blomkamp attempted a more honest rendering of the topic. For example, the Nigerian gangsters in the movie were definitely bad guys, even though they too were illegal immigrants who came to South Africa for opportunity. This is consistent with real life, where native South Africans (black and white) perceive immigrant Nigerians as fly-by-night scammers and drug dealers. And then there’s the character of Wicus, the white Afrikaner who, while having his share of politically incorrect moments, was at least honestly trying to do what he thought was morally right (not unlike the original Afrikaners, who were deeply Christian). And you may have noticed that many of the police who were killing the “Prawns” were in fact black. Again, this measures up against real life, where it is teams of black/colored South African police that have shot and killed striking miners and farm workers in recent months- all of whom are black, and some of whom are immigrants from much poorer countries to the north.

Thus, the reality of the immigration/class/race debate is complex, and I thank Blomkamp for at least trying to give it fair treatment in District 9. But we got none of this in Elysium, which is 100% in-your-face progressive American propaganda. No balance or subtlety. No attempt at presenting the conservative perspective on illegal immigration and socialized healthcare. No attempt at seeing the owners of industry as anything but detached, selfish slave-drivers. The takeaway from the film is simply that rich people are evil elitists- the “1%”, who are resoundingly white (and racist, naturally)- and that immigration and healthcare should be universal human rights (paid for by rich people, of course), because if they aren’t, poor immigrant children will suffer and die. (Boo hoo. Gosh, if only more white people like Matt Damon would stand up and do the right thing...