Synopsis
The Gods Must Be Crazy is a zany tale with a plot that is so twisted that it really must be broken down into sections. First, it is a story of the misadventures of Xi (N'gao), a Junt-wasi tribesman from the African Kalahari Desert. Xi's family lives deep in the Kalahari. They have never seen a white person and have rarely had contact with anyone else. They live a peaceful life, sharing everything and hunting and gathering all of their necessities. One day, a pilot carelessly drops a Coca-cola bottle out of his plane. It changes their lives drastically. Since there was only one bottle, and everyone wanted to use it, the family members grew jealous of each other for the first time ever. The discord goes on until Xi decided that it would be best to give the bottle back to the gods.
On his way to find the end of the world and dispose of the bottle, Xi meets Andrew and Kate, the film's second set of protagonists. He thought at first they might be gods, but as their Land-Rover was stuck in the top of a tree, they were unable to help him. So, he went on.
The film's second plot is a screwball love story. Andrew Stein (Marius Weyers), an Afrikaans micro-biologist working in the Kalahari, agrees to pick up the new schoolteacher for the Reverend (Jamie Uys). Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo), a big city reporter, is trying to escape the pressures of the city by taking a job as a teacher in Botswana. Stein and Thompson have an exhilarating and hilarious two-day ride from the bus stop to the village.
Stein and Xi crossed paths again when Xi is arrested for shooting a goat. Mbudi (Michael Thys), Stein's mechanic, is called upon to interpret for Xi's trial. Stein agrees to hire Xi as an "environmental expert," thus getting him out of prison.
The third sub-plot is a tale of a bungled revolution. Sam Boga's (Louw Verwey) anti-apartheid forces flub an assassination attempt. The government forces follow them to their hideaway and attack. Boga and his henchmen then flee towards the Kalahari desert, where they hope to escape. Boga takes Miss Thompson hostage in an attempt to escape from the government troops. Stein and Xi eventually capture Boga and, in the end, Stein wins Miss Thompson's heart.
Technical/Cultural
The Gods is an effective slapstick comedy. Uys parodies the tone of tolerant omniscience typical of many African documentaries. The narrator, Paddy O'Byrne, had worked on several Uys documentaries. Echoes of these earlier works, especially his 1975 film, Animals are Funny People, are evident throughout the film.
One of Uys's signature devices appears in the first moments of the film. The establishing sequence is a series of zoom shots from a map of Africa, to the brown of desert, then to actual footage of an antelope herd at a water hole. Uys used the same establishing sequence in Funny People.
The narrator explains that, except for a short rainy season, the Kalahari is devoid of water. "Humans avoid the deep Kalahari like the plague, because man must have water to live. So, the beautiful landscapes are devoid of people, except for the little people of the Kalahari." The introduction suggests that the Junt-wasi tribesmen are, perhaps, not quite people. The bushmen, "the most contented people in the world," are presented as just another aspect of this fascinating environment.
In his portrayal of the Junt-wasi as carefree and happy, completely at home in their desert environment, Uys glosses over many of the negative aspects of their life. According to Dr. Richard Worringham, Radford University professor and South African film maker, many of the Junt-wasi never live to see their fiftieth birthday. "Living in the harsh desert environment," he said, "simply wears them out"
In an interview in In Darkest Hollywood, Uys said he decided to see "every bushman in the world" in search of his hero. "And this one, N'gao," he said, "his hunting ground straddled the border between Botswana and Namibia." According to ethnographic film maker John Marshal, "N'gao never supported himself by hunting and gathering in his life. When Uys discovered him, N'gao was working as a cook."
Uys claimed that The Gods was an accurate portrayal of the bushmen. In Darkest Hollywood closed its segment on The Gods with an interview with N'gao. He said that Uys had him dress in a loincloth and then imitate the customs of a bushman. "I did not think it was right to do something that was not true," he said. "The right thing is to show things as they are." Throughout the movie, Uys reverts to the pseudo-documentary style whenever he focuses on the Xi, the native hero.
O'Byrne's deadpan descriptions, combined with Xi's logical, but unconventional reactions, create some of the most hilarious moments in the film. While Xi was on his way to the end of the world, he ran into a baboon, "the most inquisitive animal in the desert." The baboon ran off with the "evil thing," as Xi referred to the Coke bottle. He scampered up a tree and, the narrator tells us, Xi spoke "long and earnestly" to the baboon. "In the end," O'Byrne says, "it must have worked, because the baboon dropped the bottle. `You have done a very wise thing,' said Xi."
Another of O'Byrne's sequences is a commentary on the "civilized world." As the narrator drones on about all the modern conveniences in Johannesburg, "real labor saving devices," Uys flashes a fast-paced montage of modern city life, crowded, unhealthy and impersonal.
Uys uses the soundtrack to help the viewer keep track of the various plots. The film score reflects the personality of the featured character. Whenever Xi is in the spotlight, natural sound and native music provide a background for the narration. Stein is represented by lively circus music; Miss Thompson, by a lilting piano melody; and Boga, by a very martial sounding brass band.
In addition to the thematic soundtrack, Uys takes advantage of the comical effect of slow and fast-motion photography throughout The Gods. For example, when N'gao's character shoots a goat, the goat herder races off to get the police. As he rides off on a rickety bicycle, Uys speeds up the action, greatly exaggerating his jerky movements. (MSTD 452H discussion, 27 March, 1995).