Watching "The Gods Must Be Crazy" is to see an artifact of American culture given new life in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. It's not a Coke bottle I refer to, but silent comedy of the Hal Roach and Max Sennett variety, brought to second life by director-writer Jamie Uys.
Uys pulls every Roachian trope he can think of, whether it be a terrorist slipping on a banana peel or the strains of "Rockabye Baby" with people falling asleep. Cars with a mind of their own drive in reverse while one poor fellow can't move five feet in without tripping or getting a face full of flour. 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. Thinking it a gift from the Gods, a most unwelcome one, a tribe member named Xi (N!xau, a real Ju/wasi) sets off to find "the end of the earth" so he can respectfully return it. On his way, he runs afoul of civilization's mad rules and finds himself in need of help from mechanic M'Pudi (Louw Verway) and biologist Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers, the guy with the flour on his face). Steyn's got his own problems.
"When I meet women, my brain switches off," Steyn explains. "I turn into a complete idiot." When escorting the fair schoolteacher Kate (Sandra Prinsloo) to a Botswana village, he keeps falling on top of her trying to rescue her from wild animals only he (and the audience) sees. "You get these sudden urges and then you come up with warthogs and rhinoceroses," she sneers.
There are those who see in "Gods" socio-political comment about the then state of South Africa, where the film was made, with blacks and whites adjusting to one another in chaotic fashion. Others may see a comic Koyaanisqatsi, of life's balance being restored by Xi, the only true-sighted man amid many who are confused. 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. Clearly there's a bit of awkwardness to the notion of the Ju/wasi lifestyle being presented so idyllically, as if subsisting on rainwater residue really compensates for adequate refreshment. 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. Even a gang of terrorists shooting up the countryside, actually killing and being killed, feel more in tune with Laurel & Hardy than "The Dogs Of War". Uys is merely updating the movie conventions to more modern sensibilities, without losing the mojo that made classic comedies so rich and lasting. Despite some atrocious dubbing, there is even some good wordplay to be had. I like especially the name of Steyn's romantic rival, "Jack Hind", as I realized it must be a play on the classic "Jack Ass".
Okay, maybe the charm wears off a bit after the credits roll. You couldn't really make films like silent Hollywood did, not in 1980 and especially perhaps not in a part of the world as hard-bitten by life's realities as southern Africa. 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.
Uys pulls every Roachian trope he can think of, whether it be a terrorist slipping on a banana peel or the strains of "Rockabye Baby" with people falling asleep. Cars with a mind of their own drive in reverse while one poor fellow can't move five feet in without tripping or getting a face full of flour. 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. Thinking it a gift from the Gods, a most unwelcome one, a tribe member named Xi (N!xau, a real Ju/wasi) sets off to find "the end of the earth" so he can respectfully return it. On his way, he runs afoul of civilization's mad rules and finds himself in need of help from mechanic M'Pudi (Louw Verway) and biologist Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers, the guy with the flour on his face). Steyn's got his own problems.
"When I meet women, my brain switches off," Steyn explains. "I turn into a complete idiot." When escorting the fair schoolteacher Kate (Sandra Prinsloo) to a Botswana village, he keeps falling on top of her trying to rescue her from wild animals only he (and the audience) sees. "You get these sudden urges and then you come up with warthogs and rhinoceroses," she sneers.
There are those who see in "Gods" socio-political comment about the then state of South Africa, where the film was made, with blacks and whites adjusting to one another in chaotic fashion. Others may see a comic Koyaanisqatsi, of life's balance being restored by Xi, the only true-sighted man amid many who are confused. 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. Clearly there's a bit of awkwardness to the notion of the Ju/wasi lifestyle being presented so idyllically, as if subsisting on rainwater residue really compensates for adequate refreshment. 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. Even a gang of terrorists shooting up the countryside, actually killing and being killed, feel more in tune with Laurel & Hardy than "The Dogs Of War". Uys is merely updating the movie conventions to more modern sensibilities, without losing the mojo that made classic comedies so rich and lasting. Despite some atrocious dubbing, there is even some good wordplay to be had. I like especially the name of Steyn's romantic rival, "Jack Hind", as I realized it must be a play on the classic "Jack Ass".
Okay, maybe the charm wears off a bit after the credits roll. You couldn't really make films like silent Hollywood did, not in 1980 and especially perhaps not in a part of the world as hard-bitten by life's realities as southern Africa. 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.