The Gods Must Be Crazy

Plot synopsis:
Xi and his San tribe of Ju'/Hoansi bushmen are living happily in the Kalahari Desert. One day, a glass Coca-Cola bottle is thrown out of an airplane and falls to Earth unbroken. Initially, Xi's people suppose this strange artifact is another "present" from the gods and find many uses for it. But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one glass bottle to share. Because of the conflict it causes, Xi consults with elders and agrees to make a pilgrimage to the edge of the world and dispose of the supposedly cursed thing.
Along the way, he encounters a diverse assortment of people, such as: biologist Andrew Steyn, who is studying the local animals; Kate Thompson, the newly hired village school teacher; a band of guerrillas led by Sam Boga, who are being pursued by government troops after an unsuccessful attack; a safari tour guide named Jack Hind; and Steyn's assistant and mechanic, M'pudi.
When Xi, hungry, happens upon a corral, he shoots a goat with a tranquilizer arrow, but is caught and jailed. M'pudi, who once lived with the San and still speaks Xi's dialect, concludes that Xi will die if kept incarcerated. He and Steyn apply to employ Xi as a tracker for the remainder of his sentence in lieu of prison. Meanwhile, the guerrillas invade Kate's school and take her and the students as human shields for their escape to the neighboring country.
Steyn, M'pudi, and Xi soon discover their field work (observing the local wildlife) is on the terrorists' chosen path. They manage to immobilize the guerrillas as they are passing by and save Kate and the children. However, Jack Hind takes away Kate, and Steyn is left at the same place again. With Xi's term over, Steyn pays his wages and sending him on his way. When Steyn tells Kate about his problem, Kate is impressed and they begin his relationship.
Xi eventually arrives at God's Window, the top of a cliff with a solid layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape below. Convinced that he has reached the edge of the world, he throws the bottle off the cliff, and returns to his tribe.

Tags: cult

Review:
The common thread throughout is a very tongue-in-cheek critique, in the mode of a parable, of both culture/society/civilization and views about culture/society/civilization, including politics, religion, mores, and so on.The film begins with the story of Xixo, or just "Xi" (N!xau, in one of the many spellings of this actor's name) and his fellow bushmen, who live in the Kalahari Desert.
Uys seems to be saying that even if there is a solution to civilization's woes, it's going to be complex and probably less than perfect.Easing up on the analysis for a minute, all you may need to know is that The Gods Must be Crazy is a very funny but poignant film.
This is one of the most gentle, pleasant, and likable movies I've seen in a long time (all of that in a good way).I'd always heard about it, but somehow managed to miss it over the years.
A unique film with a brilliant combination of slapstick, subtle humour, wonderful music, brilliant wildlife and scenic shots, all beautifully woven into a piece in an almost "road-style" movie around the adventures of a bushman.
Like any story, there are some aspects which are slightly unbelievable if you stop to think - but the skill of the film is that it is sufficiently convincing to suspend such unbelief whilst you watch.The message of the film is brilliantly presented, subtly challenging the belief that white civilization has all the answers, gently poking fun at many of our western assumptions (no idea why anyone thinks it's racist - it may be the opposite)!
This is not a great movie but it uses the differences between the civilized white man against the uncivilized Bushman and with that simple tool it becomes hilarious.
Most of the time the movie is slapstick comedy the way we see it in Chaplin- or Laurel & Hardy-shorts.
We even have the fast forward sequence where people are running away from something.The movie opens with a look on the Bushmen and a narrator (Paddy O'Byrne) tells us what kind of people they are; friendly and without any knowledge about the world not that far from their Kalahari desert.
These early scenes give a very funny view on how the civilized white man has become what he is today.In the meanwhile we have met Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers) who does field research not far from the Bushman and Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo) who was tired of her job and now wants to do something with children in Botswana.
It only uses the story to show us differences between people, to show that the white man is not necessarily the civilized man and it does this with great comedy.
The Gods Must Be Crazy' with its simple humor works a lot better then most of the modern comedies.
Unique and different, this film showed a different side of Africa and introduced one of the few genuine characters in the African Bushman.
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" is a South African made comedy that was made back in the early 1980s but didn't get released until 3-4 years after shooting was completed.
My wife says "If you want a little lightness in your life, this one's a gem.' This South African film was written and directed by Jamie Uys, who also plays The Reverend.
The film is in English with some Afrikaans and a little of the dialogue is in Xhosa, a language with many consonants which are different clicking sounds; it is an interesting experience just to hear it.In his travels, a bushman in the Kalahari desert, find a Coca-Cola bottle that was thrown from an airplane.
In his quest to get rid of the bottle by throwing it off the end of the world, he encounters civilization for the first time; we hear his puzzled thoughts through a narrator, and we are able to see ourselves through the eyes of an innocent.
Although filled with actors no one has ever heard of and being low budgeted, it's still one of the best films I've ever seen.The movie starts out in the bush of the Kalahari; a documentary on the bushmen of the desert.
So give yourself a good laugh and have a great time with a movie..
This movie is a cult classic and belongs with "Harold and Maude" and "King of Hearts" in this category.In its own crazy way it tells us all kinds of things about people, simple and complicated, the way life might be, and, indeed, the way it is.
Clearly Jamie Uys is a genius, to put such disparate material together in such a complex crazy plot, and have it all make sense.People looking for technical accuracy will not like this movie.
This comedy contains 3 intertwined stories: first the quest of one Bushman of the Kalahari, a second is an almost romance between a schoolteacher and a woman-shy researcher, and the third involves a pursued flight by a small group of rebels.Eventually, all the threads interact, unite, and gain resolution.
Much like Pygmies, the !Kung are short in stature (but not quite as much) and rather than black, they're usually considered "Negrito" and somewhat yellowish skinned if I remember correctly.I'd seen this film years ago and enjoyed it particularly for its view of the !Kung.
There really is no story to tell as such; an African, pagan, bushman, unknown to glass, finds a Coca-Cola bottle and tries to deal with it, within the limits of his environment and his known world.
There about 4 different stores happening, (The bushman going on a journey to get rid of the "evil thing", the school teacher getting away and starting a new life, the microbiologist who's afraid of women, and the group of terrorists up to no good.) The personalities in the movie, and the different points of view at which the stories get told, are great!
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" rivals "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" for playing out separate, winding threads, then tying them neatly together in the end with comic flair."The Gods Must Be Crazy" weaves three separate "fish out of water" stories together -- a bushman who encounters civilization on his quest to rid the earth of an evil Coke bottle, a stumblebum wildlife biologist more at home with a demonic Land Rover than a beautiful woman, and a weary office worker who flees the rat race to become a schoolteacher in a remote villate.
It is basic slapstick and simpleness, with a pittance for a budget, yet 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' has set a precedent for true funny films.Set in Africa, it tells the overwhelmingly amusing tale of a bushman, totally oblivious to the modern world, who finds an empty coke bottle while hunting one day.
It is a nice, pleasant story suitable for the whole family.If you are sitting at home one night and want to watch a good, funny movie with your family, forget Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler, rent a true classic - 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' - I am sure you will absolutely love it!
If you want really simple slapstick humor, The Gods Must be Crazy is one of the greatest triumphs in the last 20 years.The premise of the movie is a three-fold plot; Xixo is a bushman, whose family has found a coke bottle that some pilot dropped from a plane.
But I seized it eagerly when it became available on video, and it remains one of my all time favorites to date.There has already been a good deal of commentary on the philosophy of culture clash, or the "evils of civilization" angle, but the one thing I could add is that this movie, in its off-beat, thoroughly endearing way, shows the evolution of mythology from reality.
It is a mockery of civilization along with a silly "G" rated love story/comedy-basically two plots in one movie loosely tied together.
there is a story in The Gods Must Be Crazy, and i must really like it, too, as i can't count how many times i've seen the film..
if the technical aspects are too much for you to handle, then go watch some drivel like Pearl Harbor, i'm quite sure benafflekkk has the answer to all your little problems.in fact - this movie may have NO MESSAGE, but i think it has many.
For me it is a simple funny film, more of an homage to our classic American slapstick comedies of the 30's than anything else.See it for yourself, and I think you'll 'see' Chaplin, Keystone Kops, Keaton and enjoy it for what it is, a funny, make-you-chuckle-out-loud entertainer you can watch again and again..
I saw this movie on TV more than ten years ago and I really loved it and still do.The movie is set around 3 different characters, a micro-biologist who is a klutz around women, a native 'bush man' of the Kalahari who is on a quest to find the edge of the world so he can dispose of a coke bottle that he thinks is evil, and an incompetent militia leader who is fleeing his country after a bungled attempt kill the President and take control.
The story is hilarious, it's nice, the lead actor is amazingly goofy, and the slapstick qualities of a lot of the humor are great.(I'll reveal one secret only....in the "dramatic" rebel raid scene, the rebels come zooming in hanging all over a couple of old jeeps.
Somehow it works, and "The Gods Must Be Crazy" winds up being a pretty good time.When a Coke bottle is thrown out of a passing airplane and lands amid a tribe of Ju/wasi (also known, apparently not as respectfully I've learned, as Bushmen), the strange object is found so useful that it stirs up jealousy and unrest.
But the film plays so hard for laughs it feels chary to look past the slapstick surface for anything more than a funny story.In fact, I think it works against the film to attach too much thought to watching it.
The sad fate of N!xau, who lived out his days a wretched shell from tuberculosis, suggests a more uncomfortable reality than presented here.But the film impresses me with its winning amiability and clever set-ups, the way Uys never lets a scene go more than a minute without finding some amusing payoff.
But "The Gods Must Be Crazy" comes pretty close, and when you add some of the most gorgeous scenery ever filmed, it makes for a more fulfilling entertainment than most of today's more "socially relevant" comedies while it runs its mad, inspired course..
When they finally stopped showing it, there was such an uproar that they brought it back for another 3 months by popular demand.I remember going to see this movie several times when I was about 6 years old.
This film provides a hilarious contrasting view of "normal" modern life versus the supposedly "backwards" stone-age culture of the Kalahari Bushmen and aptly demonstrates which way of living is crazier..
I now see coke-bottle and think "evil thing."  It's the type of comedy that appeals to those who like intellectual humor, a wonderful blend of wity naration, great dialogue and good sight gags.
In a sentence I can sum the movie up with this: It tells an interesting story with a timely message - in a funny way.(And the fact that it's set in the African wilderness only adds to the beauty of the movie  :-).
(`The Life of Brian' is its only real rival.)  Admittedly, I found that the tears-to-the-eyes hilarity more or less vanished after the first viewing, and I don't think I could stand to watch the film too often, but there are clearly those who feel differently.
And the burly bearded leader looked to me for all the world to be a carbon copy of Terreblanche, a real life Afrikaans rebel who years later was jailed.I tend to agree with N!xau who in later years said he was disappointed that after the film created much success for some, very little was done for bettering the lives of his people.
I remembered renting this movie from our local video store with my mom when I was a little kid and when I first watched it with my parents, I laughed so hard I've found myself rolling on the ground, prompting my mom to tell me to contain myself.In this South African film, things start off interesting when an African bushman named Xi (N!xau) in the Kalahari desert discovers a discarded Coke bottle, which fell from the sky, thinking it was from the Gods.
Along the way, he bumps into traveling school teacher Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo) and bumbling biologist Marius Weyers (Andrew Steyn), and stumbles upon a plot by a despotic revolutionary.The three leading actors gave off a lot of physical comedy, from Xi's surprised and confused expressions as he spots and try to learn how to utilize new modern things like driving a car, to the awkward chemistry between Kate Thompson and Marius Weyers.
For me, the movie didn't live up to its billing, but then maybe my expectations were a tad too high.Set in Africa, The Gods Must Be Crazy is the story of a bushman, a scientist, a schoolteacher and a gang of guerillas.
it wasn't one of those big budget films or anything and i don't think any of the actors were known, but i still loved this movie.
I believe that a person who sees racism everywhere they go and in everything they see is the 'real' racist.Another reason why I like this movie so much isn't even because it's a comedy...it's because of the wonderful scenery and wildlife of the Kalahari Desert.
The movie showcases the innocence of a Bushman in a selfish (modern world) add slapstick to it, both elements of comedy are done in a innocent way.
The second element I loved was the slapstick comedy, I cannot remember last time I saw slapstick done in such a funny way.
They all come together in this delightful South African film.OK, not very realistic, granted, but then when was slapstick comedy ever supposed to be?If you need a movie to simply watch to get your thoughts off your struggles at work, home, wherever, and especially if you want a movie that you don't want to take seriously, this is the one for you.An African bushman, while trying to throw an empty Coke bottle off the edge of the supposedly flat earth, encounters a scientist who is having one awkward moment after another with the new school teacher.
"The Gods must be crazy" is a whimsical satire of human nature set in Africa where a tribe leader, Xi(Nlxau) is enjoying a relatively happy life when a Coke bottle is thrown from a passing plane and is thought to be a great gift from the gods.
This means that the movie in style is very different from similar type of movies made in the west.The movie has some of the most lame and simplistic comedy in it, that is often really old fashioned and almost slapstick like but it's simply irresistible and often makes the movie an hilarious one to watch.
The concept of a small desolated African tribe being confronted for the first time with the modern world through a coke bottle is a quite good and interesting one that held plenty of potential in it.
South-African director Jamie Uys had his Hollywood film debut in this low-budget, old-fashioned comedy which will make the likes of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
I give this movie a ten for its humor but also for its ability to capture the crazy, lovely way of life in Africa.
(I had no interest in the sequel, which I was assured was not as good, and which I never saw.) And then, after maybe 10 years of having not seen it, I rented The Gods Must Be Crazy, and sat, unmoved and unhumored, through the entire film.
I began watching The Gods Must Be Crazy thinking it would be a hilarious goof ball comedy but as I got into it I found it was less funny than I thought it would be, but still very interesting.
The comedy in this movie is mainly slapstick which is pretty funny but does get a little bit boring as does some of the romance in the story.
The main reason I like this movie is because of all the information it gives on different people from parts of Africa.
This film is hilarious and I highly recommend it to all who love a good comedy.
The story is that of a Bushman who one day comes across a Coke bottle thrown from a plane and thinks it to be a gift from the gods.
And when the number 8:27 comes up it's time to write a movie review...Many critics seemed to see the basic premise of the film as a conflict between the "good" natural state of the bushman and the "bad" civilized state of the city dwellers and revolutionaries.To me, it's more of a comment (and a pretty badly dubbed comment at that!) on the inherent comedy of culture conflict that proceeds from the completely arbitrary nature of ALL cultures.
I think it's a universal comedy because I'm quite sure all people from every country, with different kind of ages will have a lot of laugh while watching this movie.
The bushman's story is delightful, as he treks to the end of the Earth to dispose of an evil thing (Coke bottle) that the Gods (airplane pilot) have sent to his home in the Kalahari.
The movie shows the simple life of these tribe people and makes us think is the civilization we leave in, is really better than theirs?
Then it shows the life of these African tribe people, their thinking about the god, the world, and the things which are new for them.