Movie Review: The Gods Must Be Crazy
“The Gods Must Be Crazy,” a South African film written and directed by Jamie Uys, received critical acclaim during its time in the box office in 1980. I first watched the movie when I was in third grade, and back then, I thought it was the most entertaining combination of human interaction and cartoon humor. The film follows the stories of unrelated characters: Xi of the San tribe in the Kalahari Desert, a biologist named Marius Weyers who analyzes manure samples and a village school teacher named Kate Thompson. It includes moments of romance, violence and comedy that appeal to anyone who fancies a quick laugh. Although it is not one of the classics that can be watched repeatedly, it is a sure way to brighten up your day.
The beginning of the film is structured like a documentary one may have seen during a dull night on the Discovery Channel. It introduces Xi’s tribe as a peaceful and resourceful community, contrasting this to the monotonous, scheduled lifestyle of the West. After witnessing the evils of a mysterious Coca-Cola bottle that fell from the sky as a gift from the gods, Xi tells his family that he’ll take the weapon to the edge of the world and return it to them. Although this conflict is not addressed until the end of the movie, which will frustrate the viewer during the film, it sets the stage for an extraordinary journey that examines the experiences and mistakes that make us human.
Once Xi departs on his mission, he comes across a strange array of people and even stranger animals with long, snake-like tracks that just happen to resemble tire tracks. The film includes long scenes of cartoon humor such as the “guerrillas fail to load a bazooka gun and blow up a banana tree” and the “car that cannot brake on a hill rolls down when the driver exits to open the gate.” Uys transformed the repetitive violence in children’s animated shows and made a movie with human cartoons that people cannot help but laugh at. The dramatic irony in the film can be labeled as “too dramatic,” but overall, it is a light-hearted film that brings perspective to the value of the people and materials in our life.
Most of the characters are well-written, and some are almost too pitiful to be believable (such as the lonely man who can barely perform his job of collecting the feces of animals). The majority of the movie is composed of ridiculous dialogue and action, but that makes the awkwardness of many of these interactions very relatable to the viewer. Although none of these characters should have any circumstances that would bring them together, by the end of the film, each of them leaves a lasting impression on the relationship between man and man—and perhaps gods.