The Gods Must Be Crazy

The God's Must be Crazy is a very unassuming film. It is totally lacking in typical Hollywood glitz which adds all the more to its charm. It was filmed in the early 1980's and was the first in a trilogy focusing on Xi and the perplexing antics of his family and tribe. It begins in the midst of an African tribe, the San/Bushman, living in the Kalahari Desert who despite their primitive appearance, live their lives in complete contentment. Everyone has all they could ever need or want. No one ever goes without and all are equal in possession and contentment. Everything about these people and their existence suggests simplicity, from their few needs and wants to their view and understanding of the world they live in. They take it for granted that benevolent beings from above provide for their essentials and they are, for the most part, very appreciative.

Their ideal existence is threatened when one day a Coke Cola bottle which has been thrown out of the window of a passing airplane falls into the midst of the Bushmen's tribe. Everyone immediately views it as a wonderful "gift from the gods" and each in turn discovers its many and wonderful attributes. But alas, there is only this one bottle and now what was once a peaceful, generous and contented village has turned into one of envy and strife.

It is decided that there must have been a mistake made, that this gift from the gods is not a gift but a curse to the bushman's way of life and it must be gotten rid of. This begins Xi's long journey to rid his people of the mistaken gift and drop it off the end of the earth.

He leaves his beloved village and family equipped with very few necessities, his keen wit and of course the accursed bottle, to search for earth's end where he can rid them all of this thing the crazy gods gave them. But he mingles with a variety of people, places and things that cause him to marvel even more at what the gods must be thinking and why everyone seems to be so ill-equipped to manage in this new and strange environment.

There are a variety of elements of civilization that Xi runs into on his quest that amuse, perplex and sometimes seriously endanger him, but because of the language barrier and his inexperience with any outside cultures, he is almost oblivious.

A clumsy, almost inept, biologist, studying local animal habitats who must accompany a young woman who is newly arrived to the rough terrain of the African plain to teach in the present locale is one.

There are also a ban of revolutionaries caught in the midst of their unsuccessful government overthrow who entangle themselves with the school teacher and her students. All of which is portrayed in comical, clumsy, pure entertainment.