Nigeria wants theaters to pull ‘District’

The Nigerian government says it wants movie theaters in Nigeria to stop screening District Nine, contending it denigrates the country’s image.

Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili said his government feels the science fiction film from director Neill Blomkamp portrays Nigerians starkly negative ways, the BBC reported Saturday.

We feel very bad about this because the film clearly denigrated Nigeria’s image by portraying us as if we are cannibals, we are criminals, Akunyili said.

The name (of) our former president was clearly (spelled) out as the head of the criminal gang and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings.

District uses the existence of extraterrestrial aliens forced to live in a South African shanty town as an allegory to apartheid and South African violence, the BBC said.

Akunyili said she has asked Nigerian film officials to pull the movie from theaters, while also seeking a formal apology from its producer, Sony Pictures Entertainment.