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1980 Due south African film by Jamie Uys

The Gods Must Be Crazy
Gods must be crazyposter.jpg

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jamie Uys
Written past Jamie Uys
Produced past Jamie Uys
Starring
  • Nǃxau ǂToma
  • Sandra Prinsloo
  • Marius Weyers
  • Nic de Jager
  • Michael Thys
  • Louw Verwey
  • Ken Gampu
  • Simon Sabela
Narrated past Paddy O'Byrne
Cinematography Buster Reynolds
Robert Lewis
Edited by Stanford C. Allen
Jamie Uys
Music by John Boshoff

Production
visitor

C.A.T. Films
Distributed by Ster-Kinekor (South Africa)
20th Century Fox (U.S.)

Release date
  • 10 September 1980 (1980-09-x) (South Africa)

Running time

 109 minutes
Countries S Africa
Botswana
Languages English
Afrikaans
Juǀʼhoan
Budget $5 million [1]
Box office R one.viii billion (~$200 million)

The Gods Must Exist Crazy is a 1980 one-act film written, produced, edited and directed by Jamie Uys. An international co-production of Southward Africa and Republic of botswana, it is the first motion-picture show in The Gods Must Exist Crazy series.

Prepare in Southern Africa, the film stars Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma as Xi, a hunter-gatherer of the Kalahari Desert whose tribe discovers a drinking glass canteen dropped from an aeroplane, and believe information technology to be a souvenir from their gods. When Xi sets out to return the canteen to the gods, his journey becomes intertwined with that of a biologist (played past Marius Weyers), a newly hired village school teacher (Sandra Prinsloo), and a band of guerrilla terrorists.

The Gods Must Be Crazy was released past Ster-Kinekor in South Africa, where it broke box-function records, condign the most financially successful release in the history of Due south Africa'due south film industry.[2] The movie was a commercial and critical success in other countries, including the U.s.a., where it was distributed past 20th Century Fox, with the picture show's original Afrikaans dialogue beingness dubbed in English. Despite its success, the film attracted criticism for its delineation of race and perceived ignorance of discrimination and apartheid in South Africa.[3]

The film was followed by one official sequel, The Gods Must Be Crazy Ii, released by Columbia Pictures in 1989.

Plot [edit]

11 and his San tribe[a] are living happily in the Kalahari Desert, away from industrial civilisation. I twenty-four hours, a drinking glass Coca-Cola canteen is thrown out of an aeroplane by a pilot and falls to the footing unbroken. Initially, Xi'due south people assume the bottle to be a gift from their gods, simply as they believe plants and animals are, and find many uses for it. Unlike other bounties, withal, there is but one glass canteen, which causes unforeseen conflict within the tribe. As a result, Eleven, wearing just a loincloth, decides to make a pilgrimage to the edge of the world and dispose of the divisive object.

Along the way, Xi encounters biologist Andrew Steyn, who is studying the manure of wildlife; Steyn'southward banana and mechanic, Thousand'pudi; Kate Thompson, a woman who quit her job as a journalist in Johannesburg to become a hamlet school teacher; and eventually a band of guerrillas led by Sam Boga, who are being pursued by regime troops afterwards a failed assassination endeavor.

Steyn is tasked with bringing Kate to the village where she will teach, but he is awkward and clumsy around her. Their Land Rover stalls while trying to ford a deep river; he hoists it out with a winch, simply information technology continues lifting the vehicle to a very high treetop level while a forgetful Steyn is distracted extricating Kate from a briar bush-league. She more than in one case mistakes his attempts to evade wild animals, and putting out an evening campfire, equally advances towards her. Somewhen, a snobbish safari tour guide named Jack Hind arrives, and takes Kate the rest of the manner to the hamlet.

One 24-hour interval, Xi happens upon a herd of goats, and shoots one with a tranquilizer arrow, planning to eat it. He is arrested and sentenced to jail. G'pudi, who in one case lived with the San and can speak the San linguistic communication, is discontent with the verdict. He and Steyn suit to hire Xi as a tracker for the remainder of his judgement in lieu of prison time, and teach Eleven how to drive Steyn's Land Rover. Meanwhile, the guerrillas invade Kate's school, taking her and the students every bit hostages as they make their escape to a neighbouring country.

Steyn, Thou'pudi and Xi, immersed in their fieldwork, observe that they are along the terrorists' and childrens' path, and detect their movements with a telescope. They manage to immobilize six of the eight guerrillas using makeshift tranquilizer darts launched past Eleven with a miniature bow, allowing Kate and the children to confiscate the guerillas' firearms. Steyn and K'pudi apprehend the remaining two guerrillas by frightening i with a snake and by shooting at a tree higher up the other, causing latex to drip from the tree and irritate his skin. Jack Hind arrives and takes away Kate, taking credit for the rescue that Steyn, Thousand'pudi and Xi had actually planned and executed.

Later on, with Eleven'due south term over, Steyn pays his wages and sends him on his manner. Eleven has never seen paper coin (banknotes) before, and throws them on the basis. Steyn and M'pudi then drive from their camp to visit Kate. Steyn attempts to explain to Kate his tendency to be uncoordinated in her presence, but accidentally and repeatedly knocks over a number of objects in the procedure. Kate finds his efforts endearing, and kisses Steyn.

Xi somewhen arrives at God's Window, the top of a cliff with a solid layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape beneath. Convinced that he has reached the border of the globe, he throws the canteen off the cliff, and returns to his family unit.

Cast [edit]

  • Nǃxau ǂToma every bit 11
  • Marius Weyers as Andrew Steyn
  • Sandra Prinsloo as Kate Thompson
    • In the moving-picture show's English dub, Kate Thompson is voiced by Janet Meshad.
  • Louw Verwey as Sam Boga
  • Michael Thys equally K'Pudi
    • In the English dub, One thousand'Pudi is voiced by Pip Freedman.
  • Nic de Jager equally Jack Hind
  • Fanyana Sidumo as Carte du jour 1
  • Joe Seakatsi every bit Carte du jour 2
  • Brian O'Shaughnessy every bit Mr. Thompson
  • Ken Gampu as President

Director Jamie Uys appears in an uncredited role as the Reverend.[7] [8]

Production [edit]

Development and casting [edit]

"Subsequently I made [Animals Are Beautiful People], I went back to the Kalahari very often to visit the Bushmen. The more I visited, the more I discovered this thing virtually them: they don't accept a sense of holding. They don't know about buying. If I put my jacket down, one of them would put information technology on. They share everything. Where they are, there is zip you tin ain. It seems so different from the rest of us, who volition kill one another over a diamond, because of its scarcity value."

– director Jamie Uys on the San people.[3]

Jamie Uys conceived the premise of The Gods Must Exist Crazy while making the 1974 documentary film Animals Are Cute People.[3] The documentary was filmed partially on the Kalahari Desert, where Uys first encountered the San people and "fell in honey with them."[3] Uys chose a Coca-Cola bottle every bit the object that the San people would notice and covet in The Gods Must Be Crazy considering he felt that the canteen was representative of "our plastic society", and considering information technology "is a beautiful thing, if you've never seen drinking glass before."[3]

Uys noted that he modelled the character of Andrew Steyn after himself, saying, "I used to exist bad-mannered similar that, especially with women. But then, I recall most immature guys knock things over with their first girl."[three] A scene in which a rhinoceros stomps out a fire is based in a Burmese legend nearly fire-eating rhinos, which is non widely known in Africa and appears not to be based in fact.[9]

Subsequently writing the script for The Gods Must Be Crazy, Uys reportedly spent three months traversing the Kalahari Desert with an interpreter, searching for a San person to play the role of Eleven in the film.[iii] Visiting areas of the desert inhabited by the San, Uys took photographs of individuals he felt he might cast, and then "marked the longitude and latitude, so we could find them again."[3]

Uys decided to cast Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma as Xi, and later recalled that "At get-go [Nǃxau] didn't sympathize, considering they accept no discussion for work. Then the interpreter asked, 'Would you like to come with u.s.a. for some days?'"[3] N!xau agreed and flew with Uys past airplane to Windhoek, Namibia, which served every bit a base for the film's production.[3] Uys stated that "The airplane didn't print him at all. He thinks nosotros are magicians, then he believes we can do annihilation. Cipher impressed him."[3] In his hotel room, North!xau agreed to use the toilet, but slept on the floor rather than on the provided bed.[iii]

However, according to writer Josef Gugler, Uys "[fictionalized] the production of the movie. The stories he told reviewers varied."[10] Unlike what was presented in The Gods Must Be Crazy, N!xau did not pb a hunter-gatherer lifestyle; he grew upward as a herder on a subcontract in Botswana, before moving to Namibia to work as a cook.[11] In the 1980 documentary pic Nǃai, the Story of a ǃKung Woman, directed past John Marshall, footage of the filming of The Gods Must Be Crazy is used.[12] The documentary shows San restricted to living in a reservation established by Southward African regime in Tsumkwe, Namibia.[2] [11] The San there are shown to not be hunter-gatherers; they are instead dependent on the regime for nutrient and other assistance, with some suffering from tuberculosis.[2] [11]

Filming [edit]

The Gods Must Exist Crazy was shot in Tsumkwe, Namibia,[thirteen] equally well equally in Botswana.[14] [xv]

According to Uys, N!xau would exist flown back to his domicile in the Kalahari Desert every three or iv weeks to prevent him from suffering from civilization shock.[3] During his time in urban areas, Northward!xau learned to fume and acquired an affinity for liquor and sake.[3] Uys said that he paid N!xau $300 for his first ten days of work, but that the money was reportedly diddled away past wind.[3] [16] N!xau was then compensated with 12 caput of cattle.[3] In 1985, Uys stated that he had sent Northward!xau $100 a calendar month since filming, which Due north!xau used at a trading store 60 miles from his hunting basis;[three] Uys also stated that a $20,000 trust account in N!xau's proper name had been established.[3]

Release [edit]

The Gods Must Be Crazy was released in South Africa in September 1980 by Ster-Kinekor Pictures.[2]

Box office [edit]

Inside four days of its release, the moving-picture show bankrupt box-part records in every city in South Africa.[ii] [17] Executive producer Boet Troskie sold the distribution rights to the picture to 45 countries earlier selling its United States distribution rights to 20th Century Fob.[2] It became the highest-grossing film of 1982 in Japan, where information technology was released under the title Bushman.[18] [19] In its first four years of release, the film had grossed $90 million worldwide.[20]

For its release in the U.Due south., the original Afrikaans dialogue was dubbed into English language, and voiceover work was provided for !Kung and Tswana lines.[17] The English-dubbed version of the film was released in the U.Due south. in 1984, where it received by and large positive reviews and commercial success, condign the highest-grossing not-American-produced moving-picture show in the U.S. at that time.[21] It played at the Music Hall Theater in Beverly Hills, California for at to the lowest degree eight months.[22] As of 2014[update], the film has grossed R ane.8 billion (approx. $200 million) worldwide, including more than $threescore meg in the United States.[2]

Critical reception [edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Gods Must Exist Crazy has an approval rating of 85% based on 26 reviews, with an boilerplate rating of vii.4/ten.[23] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 73 out of 100 based on six reviews, indicating "by and large favourable reviews".[24]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sunday-Times gave the motion picture three stars out of four, concluding that "It might exist easy to make a farce about screwball happenings in the desert, simply it'due south a lot harder to create a funny interaction betwixt nature and human nature. This picture show'south a nice trivial treasure."[25] Variety stated that the film's "main virtues are its striking, widescreen visuals of unusual locations, and the sheer educational value of its narration."[xiv]

In his review of the picture for The New York Times, critic Vincent Canby wrote that, "Watching Jamie Uys's Gods Must Be Crazy, [...] ane might suspect that there were no such things equally apartheid or the Immorality Human activity or even S Africa."[26] Though he called the film "often genuinely, nonpolitically funny", he noted that "in that location'southward likewise something agonizing about the film," in that "nosotros tend to feel that any South African piece of work that doesn't actively condemn apartheid has the secondary event of condoning it, if only through silence."[26]

Home media [edit]

In mid-November 1986, The Gods Must Be Crazy was released on VHS in the U.Due south. past CBS/Play a trick on[27] on its Playhouse Video label.[28]

In 2004, The Gods Must Be Crazy was released on DVD past Sony Pictures Entertainment.[29] [thirty] It was also released on DVD as a double feature with The Gods Must Exist Crazy II.[31]

Controversies [edit]

The Gods Must Be Crazy attracted criticism for its perceived perpetuation of racial stereotypes and ignorance of bigotry and apartheid in South Africa.[3] In the U.S., the pic was reportedly picketed by the National Conference of Black Lawyers and other anti-apartheid groups when information technology screened at the 68th Street Playhouse in New York City.[3]

Accusations of patronization [edit]

Both New York Times critic Vincent Canby and writer Josef Gugler called the film "patronizing" towards the San people.[26] [8] Canby wrote that the San in the film "are seen to be frightfully quaint if not downright cute", and compared the film's narrator's statement that the San "must be the near contented people in the world" to "exactly the sort of thing that Mussolini might have said when he got those trains running on fourth dimension."[26] Gugler considered both the film's narrator and the character of Mpudi cavalier, writing that "even if Mpudi feels for the San people, he is just equally patronizing every bit the narrator: 'They are the sweetest piffling buggers.'"[eight] In response to accusations of patronization, Uys said that "I don't retrieve the film is patronizing. When the Bushman is with united states in the metropolis, I practice patronize him, considering he's stupid. But in the desert, he patronizes me, considering I'1000 stupid and he'due south brilliant."[3]

[edit]

In 1985, cultural anthropologist Toby Alice Volkman wrote that coin was "a pressing business organization" for the San when The Gods Must Be Crazy was filmed, with many of them dependent on government aid and purchased food;[32] she noted that many San enlisted in the South African Army due to the high wages it paid.[32] She wrote: "Because the myth of Bushman innocence and elation underlies the popularity of The Gods Must Exist Crazy, it is no surprise that Mr. Uys would like us to believe in information technology. There is, however, little to laugh almost in Bushmanland: 1,000 demoralized, formerly independent foragers crowd into a squalid, tubercular homeland, getting by on handouts of cornmeal and carbohydrate, drinking Johnny Walker or domicile mash, fighting with i another and joining the Southward African Army."[32]

The post-obit yr, Canadian anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee called the motion picture "an amusing just thinly disguised piece of South African propaganda in which a peculiar element of South African white mythology receives prominent attending."[33] Lee wrote that "The notion that some San in the 1980s remain untouched past 'civilization' is a brutal joke. The San have been the subject of a century of rapid social alter and especially in the concluding twenty years take been forced to endure all the 'benefits' of Due south Africa'due south apartheid policies in Namibia."[33]

Gugler wrote that the guerrillas in the film are depicted as "bad Africans [...] dangerous and subversive all right, simply they are also indolent and inept. In the end, fifty-fifty Kate Thompson gets to disarm one of them. Their leader, Sam Boga, articulates what the film is showing us almost African guerrillas: 'Why do I have to work with amateurs?' He, in turn, serves to confirm the apartheid credo that Africans would be happy with the White dispensation were it not for foreigners fomenting discontent and making trouble."[8] Gugler goes on to state that Uys "[perpetuates] the myths of apartheid: an ordered world with Whites on top, a world where Africans are content but for the interference of outsiders."[8]

When asked nigh his thoughts on apartheid, Uys stated that "I recall it'south a mess. We've washed some silly, naughty things that we're ashamed of. Nosotros're trying to dismantle information technology, but it's a very complicated thing. If you go too tedious, it's bad, and if you become too fast, it will ruin the economy and everyone will starve. I hope I'grand not a racist, but everybody likes to think of himself as not racist, and I don't think that any of us can swear we're non racist. If information technology means you hate the coloured man, I'chiliad not racist. If it ways you lot cull to ally a girl of your own colour, is that racist, too? If the two are in love, it doesn't thing. But I chose a white daughter as my wife."[iii]

Sequel and related films [edit]

The Gods Must Be Crazy was followed by i official sequel, The Gods Must Be Crazy Two, released past Columbia Pictures in 1989. The Gods Must Be Crazy II was as well written and directed and Uys, and again stars Due north!xau. This was followed by an unofficial sequel, Crazy Safari (likewise titled The Gods Must Be Crazy III), a Hong Kong film starring N!xau. Other unofficial sequels include Crazy Hong Kong (The Gods Must Exist Crazy IV) and The Gods Must Be Funny in China (The Gods Must Be Crazy V). Two other unrelated films, Jewel of the Gods and There's a Zulu On My Stoep, were marketed in some territories every bit sequels to The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Legacy [edit]

Irish Spring soap had a 1989 commercial parodying the film.[34]

The video for the vocal "Take Me to Your Leader" by American rock band Incubus pays homage to the movie.[35]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ The San people are too known as the Bushmen, and are referred to as Bushmen throughout The Gods Must Be Crazy. Some sources specify 11's tribe as existence a Ju/'hoansi tribe.[4] [5] [6]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Gugler, Josef (2003). African Pic: Re-imagining a Continent. Indiana Academy Printing. p. 74. ISBN0-253-21643-five . Retrieved xiii June 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Gorelik, Boris (12 July 2014). "Jamie se treffer: Met Uys, ja – dice wêreld in". Rapport (in Afrikaans). Media24. Archived from the original on xiv July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d due east f chiliad h i j g l 1000 northward o p q r south t u v Klemesrud, Judy (28 Apr 1985). "'The Gods Must Be Crazy' - A Truly International Hit". The New York Times . Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  4. ^ Lee 2003, p. 161: "In a vicious caricature of reality, the feature film The Gods Must Be Crazy portrays the Ju/'hoansi every bit pristine hunter-gatherers so 'untouched' by 'civilisation' that the mere appearance of a Coke canteen upsets the equilibrium of the society."
  5. ^ Newcomb, Rachel (25 August 2017). "Bushmen who have little take much to teach u.s.a. about living well". The Washington Mail service . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  6. ^ Feinberg, Jody (seven October 2018). "In photos, a recollection of life amidst the Bushmen". The Patriot Ledger . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger (1993). Roger Ebert'due south Video Companion, 1994. Andrews and McMeel. p. 260. ISBN0-8362-6244-i.
  8. ^ a b c d east Gugler 2004, p. 75.
  9. ^ Kershner, Kate. "Do rhinos really stomp out fires?". HowStuffWorks . Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  10. ^ Gugler 2004, p. 73.
  11. ^ a b c Gugler 2004, p. 74.
  12. ^ Gugler 2004, p. 73–74.
  13. ^ Lee 2003, p. 161: "[...] Due south African filmmaker Jamie Uys came to Tjum!kui to film what turned out to exist a worldwide hit."
  14. ^ a b "The Gods Must Exist Crazy". Variety. 31 December 1980. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  15. ^ Birindelli, Marie-Hélène, ed. (March–April 1990). "Tourism: natural dazzler beckons". The Courier. No. 121. European Commission. ISSN 1784-682X. Retrieved 24 July 2020. Simply Botswana's Kalahari is zippo like the Sahara or even the Namibian Kalahari made famous in The Gods Must Be Crazy, some of which was filmed in Botswana.
  16. ^ Tangeni, Amupadhi (eleven July 2003). "Cgao Coma – bridging ancient and modern". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 31 July 2003. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  17. ^ a b Gugler 2004, p. 71.
  18. ^ Gugler 2004, p. 71, 74.
  19. ^ "1982年（1月～12月）". Eiren. Motion Flick Producers Association of Japan. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  20. ^ Pfaff, Françoise (2004). Focus on African Films. Indiana University Printing. p. 79. ISBN978-0-253-21668-7 . Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  21. ^ O'Brien, Daniel (2003). Spooky Encounters: A Gwailo'south Guide to Hong Kong Horror. Headpress/Disquisitional Vision. p. 81. ISBN1-900486-31-viii.
  22. ^ Champlin, Charles (11 April 1985). "Jamie Uys: He's Been Crazy About 'Gods'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  23. ^ "The Gods Must Exist Crazy (1980)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  24. ^ "The Gods Must Be Crazy Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  25. ^ Ebert, Roger (1 January 1981). "The Gods Must Be Crazy movie review (1981)". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved ix Feb 2014.
  26. ^ a b c d Canby, Vincent (28 October 1984). "Flick View; Is 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' Only a One-act?". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  27. ^ Hunt, Dennis (fourteen November 1986). "'Gods Must Exist Crazy' Drops into Video Stores; 'SpaceCamp' Is Set for Modest Blast-Off". Los Angeles Times. p. K18. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  28. ^ James, Caryn (fourteen July 1987). "The Gods Must Be Crazy (1981): Home Videos; Sophisticated Silliness". The New York Times . Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  29. ^ "The Gods Must Be Crazy". Sony Pictures Entertainment. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  30. ^ "The Gods Must Exist Crazy (1980) [DVD]". Amazon . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  31. ^ "The Gods Must Be Crazy I / The Gods Must Be Crazy II (Double Characteristic) [DVD]". Amazon . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  32. ^ a b c Volkman, Toby Alice (19 May 1985). "Despite the Movie, In that location'southward Little to Laugh at in Bushmanland". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  33. ^ a b Lee, Richard Borshay (1986). "The Gods Must Be Crazy, only the Land Has a Plan: Government Policies towards the San in Namibia". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 20 (one): 91–98. doi:10.2307/484697. JSTOR 484697.
  34. ^ "Goggle box Commercial - 1989 - Irish Spring - Lather Bar - Tribesmen - Fresh Leap Fragrance". YouTube. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021.
  35. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Incubus - Take Me to Your Leader". YouTube.

Bibliography [edit]

  • Lee, Richard (2003). The Dobe Ju/'hoansi . Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology (3rd ed.). Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN0-03-032284-7.
  • Gugler, Josef (2004). African Motion picture: Re-Imagining a Continent. Indiana Academy Press. ISBN978-0253216434.

External links [edit]

  • The Gods Must Be Crazy at IMDb
  • The Gods Must Be Crazy at AllMovie
  • The Gods Must Be Crazy at Box Role Mojo
  • The Gods Must Exist Crazy at Metacritic Edit this at Wikidata
  • The Gods Must Exist Crazy at Rotten Tomatoes

Further reading [edit]

  • Gorelik, Boris (Apr 2015). "The Gods Must Be Crazy: Sorry, just information technology's nonetheless funny". Journal of African Cinemas.

bosistofeadis.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy