10 So-Called Sad Movie Endings That Are Happier Than You Think

Neil Blomkamp's brilliant debut District 9 is not only one of the best sci-fi movies of the century thus far, but it's also one of the toughest. 

Set in South Africa, a group of aliens (known as Prawns) have been trapped on Earth for decades and are subjected to cruel conditions in a prison camp. A bureaucrat at the Department of Alien Affairs, Wikus (Sharlto Copley in a fantastic debut performance), becomes infected with an alien fluid and begins transforming into one of the Prawns. He begins to experience the cruelty of the Department first-hand and eventually forms an alliance with an alien named Christopher (Jason Cope). 

District 9 is a violent and unrelentingly bleak look at xenophobia and human cruelty, but one of the many things that makes it so great is that it finds plenty of light amidst the darkness. It ends with Wikus fully transformed into a Prawn and living in a prison camp and while often described as a depressing ending, it's arguably more of a bittersweet one. 

It's unfortunate that Wikus couldn't stop his transformation, but he and Christopher formed an unlikely, positive alliance together and while Christopher does leave on a spaceship at the end, he promises to return to cure Wikus and rescue the other aliens from their hellish existence on Earth. Also, Wikus was able to do the right thing and put the Prawns' interests before his own, and that's also something to celebrate.