Starring: N!xau, Sandra Prisloo, Marius Weyers, Louw Verwey
Release Date: July 13, 1984 (USA)
Running Time: 109 min
Genres: Action, Comedy
Commentary The Gods Must Be Crazy is a very funny and culturally educational film which contrasts the lives of the Kung Bushmen, a primitive tribe in Botswana in southern Africa, with those of "civilized men". The movie is narrated from the point of view of the tribe, which is somewhat idealized but nevertheless accurate in many ways. The Kung Bushmen are depicted as a simple, happy, peaceful tribe with no government and no rules, who live day-to-day hunting small deer and digging large underground roots for water. By contrast, "civilized men" are shown as leading highly stressful and confusing lives, having to constantly adapt and re-adapt to the artificial environment they have created for themselves.
Plot Summary The Gods Must Be Crazy is the very amusing tale of a native Botswanian Kung Bushman named Xi (N!Xau), who one day finds a Coke bottle fall from an airplane in the sky onto the desert sand. Not knowing what it is or where it came from, he takes it back to his family, who find several uses for it, including digging, stretching hide, playing music, and making decorations. After awhile they start competing over it, resulting in sometimes bloody conflict. Eventually the tribe concludes that "the thing" as they call it is evil, whence Xi decides to throw it off the edge of the earth. The next day he undertakes a great journey. Along the way, he encounters several "civilized" people, including a bumbling microbiologist, a beautiful young schoolteacher (who he thinks is the ugliest creature he's ever seen!), and some political terrorists. After some rather exciting adventures centered around these people, he continues his journey until he finally finds what looks like the edge of the earth (presumably the Atlantic coast, covered with clouds), where he throws off the evil thing and returns home to his tribe.
Western Perspectives The movie portrays
the simple life of the Kung Bushman tribe in a positive light and contrasts their way
of life to that of "civilized" man, whose life is much more hectic and wrought with
stress and confusion. The Bushman tribe is very calm and peaceful, with very little
disagreement among its members, who are happy and playful. By contrast, the movie
portrays modern society as having gone amuck, with people relying on the day of
the week and the time of day to run their busy lives. The microbiologist often acts
foolishly and the terrorists are quite violent and merciless. Despite his numerous
encounters with civilization, at the end of the film, Xi is very happy to
return home to his family.
Racial Politics Many have considered the portrayal of Xi to be absurdly racist. He was shown to be weak minded and naive with respect to the Gods.
Movie Clips
Here's a clip of the film in which the narrator describes the perils of civilization.
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Title: The Gods Must Be Crazy 
