The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

A couple of weeks ago the Monday Question was about comedies. One of the movies that was mentioned was The Gods Must Be Crazy. I was already told by others I should check it out since they saw it when they were youngers and thought it was hilarious. So it was time to give this a look. This movie was written by South African director Jamie Uys and was a movie that was pretty unique in both its setting and humor.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

The story is very original. It’s about a tribe who has never been in contact with modern society. They share everything and never argue since they don’t posess anything. This all changes once a Coke bottle is discarded from an airplane and lands among them. The glass is harder than anything they know and everyone wants to use it for various things. Xi, one of the members of the tribe sees that this bottle brings trouble and decides that he must throw it away. He sets out to travel to the edge of the world and throw it off the edge. It’s a journey where he will meet strange people and devices. Everything we take for granted he thinks is strange.
His story is interweaved with one about a biologist (who’s very shy) and a teacher and one about a guerillas who are trying to escape the government troops. All these stories interconnect and it the result of it feels a bit strange.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Of course this is a comedy, so the question is whether or not it is funny. If you are into slapstick you will probably enjoy it, although a lot to me felt a bit too silly. Looking at the DVD extras it was interesting to see that when this was edited some things were sped up and slowed down on purpose, which is something I didn’t like, although I guess it adds to the slapstick feel of it all. I liked the fact that Xi wasn’t depicted as a man that is stupid, it’s exactly the opposite. He doesn’t understand why all these “modern” people do all these silly things.
The Gods Must Be Crazy was a bit too silly for me to really enjoy it, but like all comedies it is something very personal.

Score: 5

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GorHLQ-jLRQ]

10 thoughts on “The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

  1. Hi, Nostra and company:

    I caught ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ on a dreary, cold Saturday afternoon matinee and felt a lot better afterwards.

    A completely quirky film that seems all over the map at first, but ties up nicely by the final reel.

  2. My favorite bit is where he has to leave the jeep running to open the gate….

    What a truly extraordinary film – hilarious, romantic and hilarious. I know, I’m not one for romance either, so I just concentrate on the hilarity.

    Great review, mate!

    • The jeep bit was pretty fun indeed, must have took quite a lot of planning to execute that joke! It is a very unique movie and the kids thought it was very funny.

  3. What?? A 5 out of 10?? Ouch, I LOVE this movie, I love the original story and the hilarious dialog and acting. I saw this when I was very young but upon rewatch a few yrs ago I still laughed so hard at all the shenanigans of Mr. Steyn. The sequel is crap though.

  4. Although I haven’t seen the movie in years, but it is one of the few I remember from my childhood so it has a special place in my “movie heart”. Someday I shall revisit it, but I doubt I will find it as funny as I did back then.

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