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The Gods Must Be Crazy
Directed by	Jamie Uys
Produced by	Jamie Uys
Written by	Jamie Uys
Starring	N!xau Sandra Prinsloo Marius Weyers Louw Verwey Paddy O'Byrne (as narrator)
Music by	John Boshoff
Cinematography	Buster Reynolds
Editing by	Stanford C. Allen Jamie Uys
Distributed by	Jensen Farley Pictures (1982 - US, limited), 20th Century Fox (1984 - US, wide), Sony Pictures (DVD)
Release date(s)	1980 (South Africa), 1982 (limited - USA), July 13, 1984 (wide - USA)
Running time	109 min
Country	South Africa / Botswana
Language	English / Afrikaans / Ungwatsi
Budget	$5 million
Followed by	The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)
IMDb profile

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a film released in 1980, written and directed by Jamie Uys. Set in Botswana and South Africa, it tells the story of Xi, a Bushman of the Kalahari Desert (played by Namibian bush farmer N!xau) whose band has no knowledge of the world beyond. The film is followed by four sequels, the final three of which were made in Hong Kong.

The first two films both present the Ju/wasi (referred to then and today as "Bushmen/bushmen") as noble savages leading a simple, fairly utopian life in contrast with western culture. There are several slapstick situations, accentuated by the use of fast motion.

These films, and the songs of Miriam Makeba, are probably the only exposure to a click consonant language for most people living outside of southwest Africa.^{[citation needed]}

In the film, the arrival of a Coca-Cola bottle, thrown from a passing light aircraft, represents the only exposure that the Ju/wasi have with western culture (reminiscent of so-called 'Cargo Cults'). However, by the time the movie had been filmed, the massive exposure to cultures outside of their own had shaped the Ju/wasi life in almost every respect; a fact Richard Lee helped bring to light in his book chronicling his Anthropological field work.

While a large Western white audience found the films funny, there was considerable debate about its racial politics. The portrayal of Xi (particularly in the first film) as the naive innocent incapable of understanding the ways of the "gods" was viewed by some as patronising and insulting. The film was banned in Trinidad and Tobago for this reason. However, its many fans believe that it is exactly the opposite, a send-up of so-called civilization and condemnation of racism with Xi as the hero.

Some of the debate centered on Xi's reaction to the first white people he met, assuming they were gods since they were strange (he had only known Bushmen before), rode vehicles (which he also had never seen before), and were comparatively huge. However, within minutes he began doubting they were gods. The second film clearly shows Xi's greater understanding as he tells the children about the people he had met: "heavy people ... who seem to know some magic that can make things move," but are "not very bright, because they can't survive without their magic contrivances."

It should also be noted that the films' depictions of the Bushmen, even if they were accurate in the 1980s (also a source of debate), are clearly no longer accurate. The DVD's special feature "Journey to Nyae Nyae" (N!xau's homeland in northeastern Namibia), filmed in 2003, demonstrates this.

The first film is a collision of three separate stories — Xi's, the romance between a klutzy scientist and a schoolteacher, and a band of terrorists on the run.

The bushmen of Xi's group are living well off the land. They are 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 — Xi's people find many uses for it. But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one bottle to share among all members of the group. This exposes the tribe to a hitherto unknown phenomenon, property, and they soon find themselves experiencing things they never had before: jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, even violence.

Xi assumes leadership and decides that the bottle, renamed "the evil thing", must be thrown off of the edge of the world, and he volunteers for the task. As he travels on his quest, he encounters 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 biologist Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers) who is studying the local animals, and the newly-hired village school teacher Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo), and some guerrillas led by a terrorist named Sam Boga (Louw Verwey) who are being pursued by government troops after unsuccessfully attempting a coup.

Xi, on his way to the edge of the world, happens upon a farm and, being hungry as well as oblivious to the assertion of ownership which is held over the herd which he has found, shoots a goat with his arrows. For this, he is arrested and jailed for stealing a livestock. The biologist Steyn comes to realize that Xi, who has never experienced an enclosed space before will succumb in the prison cell and manages to hire Xi as a tracker for the 11 weeks which is the length of his prison sentence. Meanwhile, the guerrillas capture the village where Kate teaches, putting her and her pupils on a trek. Steyn and Xi manage to neutralize the guerillas as they are passing by and save Kate and the children. Steyn allows Xi to leave to continue his quest to the edge of the world.

Xi prepares to throw the Coke bottle — the "evil thing" as his family calls it — off the end of the earth, in the first film.

Xi eventually finds himself at the top of a cliff with a solid layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape below. This convinces Xi that he has indeed reached the edge of the world, and he throws the bottle from there. This particular scene was filmed at a place called God's Window in what was then called the Eastern Transvaal, South Africa (now a separate province called Mpumalanga). This is at the edge of the escarpment between the high and low-velds of South Africa.

Main article: The Gods Must Be Crazy II

Xi changes his name to Xixo–A sequel, The Gods Must Be Crazy II, was filmed in 1985 but not released until 1989. In it, Xixo's two young children encounter poachers in the Kalahari and explore the back of their truck, and become unable to jump off once it starts moving. Xixo 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 film is notable for the increased role of animals throughout the story, and for its light-hearted treatment of the civil war still raging in nearby Angola at the time.

N!xau was featured in three low-budget Hong Kong film comedies that continued the fish-out-of-water aspects of the original films. They were filmed in Cantonese and dubbed in other languages. There was also a fourth film—that while unrelated to the series—was marketed on video in some markets as The Gods Must Be Crazy IV.

Fei zhou he shang (非洲和尚, 1991)

Literally: An African Buddhist Monk

Also known as:

• Crazy Safari (English title in Hong Kong)
• Fei jau woh seung (Cantonese title in Hong Kong)
• The Gods Must Be Crazy III • N!xau The Bushman • Vampires Must Be Crazy (International English titles)

Heung Gong wun fung kwong (香港也瘋狂, 1993)

Literally: And Hong Kong Goes Crazy

Also known as:

• Crazy Hong Kong (English title in Hong Kong)
• Xiang Gang ye feng kuang (Mandarin title in Hong Kong)
• The Gods Must Be Crazy IV (International English title)

Fei zhou chao ren (非洲超人, 1994)

Literally: An African Superman

Also known as:

• Fei jau chiu yan (Cantonese title in China/Hong Kong)
• The Gods Must Be Crazy V • The Gods Must Be Funny (International English titles)

Yankee Zulu (1993, IMDb)

Also marketed as The Gods Must Be Crazy IV

As of 2007, the three Hong Kong films have not been released in the United States, although they have been released on VCD format in China. The Gods Must Be Funny has recently been released on DVD in South Africa.[1]

• The Gods Must Be Crazy at the Internet Movie Database