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The Gods Must Be Crazy is a movie released in 1980, written and directed by Jamie Uys. It told the story of Xi (pronounced 'Gee' with a hard 'G'), a Bushman of the Kalahari Desert (played by Namibian bush farmer N!xau) whose tribe has no contact or knowledge of the world beyond.
The Gods Must Be Crazy I & II
Both film presents the Bushmen as noble savages leading a simple life, in contrast with the contradictions of civilization. There are several slapstick situations, accentuated by the use of fast motion. The movies and the songs of Miriam Makeba are probably the only exposure to a click language for most people out of Africa.
While a large Western white audience found the films funny, there was some considerable debate about its racial politics. The portrayal of Xi as the naive innocent incapable of understanding the ways of the "gods" was/is viewed by some as patronising and insulting. This film was actually banned in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Gods Must Be Crazy Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. The bushmen of Xi's tribe are living well off the land. The are all happy because the "gods" have provided plenty of everything so no one in the tribe has unfilled wants. One day, the pilot of a passing airplane drops a glass Coke bottle. Initially, this strange artifact seems to be a boon from the gods, with many uses being discovered for it. But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one bottle to share among all members of the tribe. The tribe members soon find themselves suffering from what they have never had before; envy, hate and violence.
It is decided that the bottle must be disposed of permanently; by throwing it off of the edge of the world. Xi is nominated for the task. As he travels in his quest he encounters members of western civilization for the first time. The film presents an interesting interpretation of civilization as viewed through Xi's perceptions.
There are also plot lines about a biologist who is studying the local animals, and the newly-hired village school teacher; and some guerillas that unsucessfully attempted a coup so they are being pursued by government troops. Xi encounters both groups with his unique perspective.
Xi eventually finds himself at the top of a cliff with a solid layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape below. This gives Xi the convincing illusion that it is indeed the edge of the world, and the throws the bottle from there. This was filmed at a place called God's Window in what was then called Eastern Transvaal, South Africa (now Mpumalanga). This is at the edge of the escarpment between the high and low-velds of South Africa.
The Gods Must Be Crazy II A sequel was released in 1989, The Gods Must Be Crazy II, in which Xi's two young children encounter poachers in the Kalahari and inadvertently stow away on their truck. Xi must once again travel great distances to retrieve them, and once again encounters various other western characters who are on quests of their own.
The Gods Must Be Crazy III – V Three further low-budget and unauthorized sequels were filmed in Cantonese by Hong Kong filmmakers to make some quick cash: - Fei zhou he shang (非洲和尚, literally: An African Buhddist Monk) (1991) (aka Crazy Safari, Vampires Must Be Crazy, or The Gods Must Be Crazy III)
- Heonggong ya fungkwong (1993) (aka Crazy Hong Kong or Xianggang ye feng kuang (香港也瘋狂, literally: And Hong Kong Goes Crazy, Mandarin title))
- Fei zhou chao ren (非洲超人, literally: An African Superman) (1994) (aka The Gods Must Be Funny in China)
These were intended as pure comedies, and are not considered of as good a quality as the first two films.
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