South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp is nothing short of a visionary. Whether you find yourself eagerly awaiting his next venture or not, there’s no denying his sustained ability to imbue his works with his distinct style. This is especially true when he’s operating under budget constraints, with pure ingenuity as the most powerful element of his arsenal. Tetra Vaal, an early work of Blomkamp’s, may best exemplify this. Despite a runtime of less than 2 minutes, this short film delivers a wholly fleshed-out worldview within a deeply visceral setting. Although Blomkamp is best known for his thematically connected trilogy of films, beginning with 2009’s District 9, his DIY roots never disappeared. Elysium came next in 2013, upping the ante with the star power of Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.
Finally, Tetra Vaal‘s premise would get the blockbuster treatment it deserved with 2015’s Chappie. Like much of Blomkamp’s work, Tetra Vaal and Chappie each uniquely explore the violent, existential clash that occurs when corporate innovation and authoritarianism meet the realities of poverty, unrest, and class division. A decade since Chappie‘s release and double that for Tetra Vaal, a retrospective look at the pair highlights the magic possible when indie filmmakers are given the backing to fully realize their long-brewing ideas.
What Is Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Tetra Vaal’ About?
Blomkamp’s Tetra Vaal serves as a mock advertisement for a fleet of robot police officers deployed in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the 2004 short is a succinct and effective display of ingenuity flourishing within the means of a small budget (and big imagination). It might be a bit silly to attempt summarizing the plot for Tetra Vaal, but, if anything, it’s a testament to the prowess that a series of vignettes can convey sizable concepts in under 2 minutes. The corporate undertones are intentionally disconnected from the state of Johannesburg, creating a dour juxtaposition when mismanaged wealth is overlaid with images of a struggling community.
‘Tetra Vaal’ Lives on in Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Chappie’
With the two parts of its name now conjoined (picture The Social Network‘s Justin Timberlake chiming in to drop “The” before “Facebook” for a cleaner feel), Tetravaal returns as the corporate entity behind the artificial intelligence law enforcement in Chappie. This time, it’s no mere advertisement. Tetravaal’s fleet of automated officers (which they call “scouts”) holds a tight grip on Johannesburg, and the underserved class of citizens grows increasingly resistant. Chappie may sit at the lower rungs of Blomkamp’s résumé (in terms of critical reception, at least), but this movie is comfortably carried by excellent performances, high-caliber action, and shockingly convincing visual effects.
Dev Patel stars as Deon, lead designer of the scouts and Chappie’s maker. Chappie (Sharlto Copley) is a defunct scout scheduled to be destroyed. However, Deon repurposes him as an experimental artificial intelligence prototype, giving him childlike innocence and a profound ability to internalize emotions. Forced into the supervision of two colorful outlaws, Yolandi and Ninja (played by South African rap-rave artists Yolandi Visser and Ninja of Die Antwoord), Chappie is torn over who he wants to become. Oh, and Hugh Jackman rocks a killer corporate-friendly mullet as Vincent, Deon’s violently disgruntled colleague. The entire ordeal is so fun you may briefly forget that the forewarned possibility of an authoritarian surveillance state powered by AI is more tangible than we’d like to accept.
Neill Blomkamp Thrives With Original Sci-Fi
Blomkamp is a sci-fi master of the shorts world. Gaming enthusiasts may remember his concept short, Halo: Landfall, originally intended as a proof-of-concept for his feature adaptation of the Halo video game series. When that project fell through, producer Peter Jackson rightfully chose to nurture what was blossoming in Blomkamp and fund the creation of District 9, which happened to be another adaptation of one of his earlier shorts, Alive in Joburg. District 9 was a critical and box office success, snagging multiple Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
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After Elysium and Chappie, Blomkamp delivered two more less-hyped features: 2021’s Demonic, a supernatural horror that’s entirely in line with its name, and 2023’s Gran Turismo, a sports car racing drama based on the video game series of the same name. But if you want to dive into Blomkamp at his most uninhibited, the true embodiment of Blomkamp’s creativity set free can be found under the umbrella of Oats Studios. It’s Blomkamp’s independent studio, which formed in 2017. Demonic was its first feature film, but the real gems lie in the Oats Studios shorts catalog streaming on Netflix. Each entry is a delectable taste of science fiction when the enthusiastic creatives call all the shots. If there’s any justice in this world, film history will remember Blomkamp as a pioneer of DIY innovation.
Chappie
- Release Date
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March 6, 2015
- Runtime
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120minutes
