LOU DOBBS’ HEAD WOULD EXPLODE

District 9 — released last August amid the sort of fanboy hype that films bearing the imprimatur of hobbit king Peter Jackson tend to inspire — opens as an apartheid parable. In this case, the oppressed masses happen to be a race of stranded space aliens slumming on the outskirts of Johannesburg, and they’re about to be further marginalized by the government contractors deployed to relocate them. When the relationship between human and alien suddenly becomes paramount to the dull-witted bureaucrat in charge, a clever, original thriller ensues. Heretofore unknown director Neill Blomkamp squeezes more bang out of 30 million bucks than many sci-fi directors do with four times the budget. Tonight at 8, District 9 begins a three-night engagement at Woodruff Auditorium on Level 5 of the Kansas Union (1301 Jayhawk Boulevard, on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, 785-864-7469). Admission is $3 for the public, $2 for KU students. For more information, see suaevents.com.