This is not a great movie but it uses the differences between the civilized white man against the uncivilized Bushman and with that simple tool it becomes hilarious. Civilized in the white man's eyes, I must add to that. This is one of those movies where every gag works, no matter how simple and silly it is. Most of the time the movie is slapstick comedy the way we see it in Chaplin- or Laurel & Hardy-shorts. We even have the fast forward sequence where people are running away from something.

The movie opens with a look on the Bushmen and a narrator (Paddy O'Byrne) tells us what kind of people they are; friendly and without any knowledge about the world not that far from their Kalahari desert. When they see a plane they think it is a strange bird or even a god. One day a pilot throws a glass bottle out of his airplane and the thing is found by the Bushmen. They have never seen anything that is a smooth and hard as this object and they find it very useful. They think it is a gift from the gods. The problem is that the gods have given only one object and for the first time they have to share something that is very hard to share. For the first time they feel emotions such as anger and jealousy. It is decided that the thing is an Evil Thing and must be thrown of the earth and Xixo (N!xau, a real Bushman) is the one to do that. These early scenes give a very funny view on how the civilized white man has become what he is today.

In the meanwhile we have met Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers) who does field research not far from the Bushman and Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo) who was tired of her job and now wants to do something with children in Botswana. Steyn must pick up Kate and bring her to the village and this is where the slapstick begins. Steyn is a man who gets very nervous when is around women and with Kate he must be the most clumsy guy there is. We have also met Sam Boga (Louw Verwey) who wants to do a coup but fails and he is now running for the police. We know how all these stories will come together but that is not a bad thing. It only uses the story to show us differences between people, to show that the white man is not necessarily the civilized man and it does this with great comedy.

‘The Gods Must Be Crazy' with its simple humor works a lot better then most of the modern comedies. The way the Bushmen talk is funny enough to like this movie. Fortunately there is so much more including a little message.

Considering how much money this movie made internationally, you would expect it to be a lot better than it is. Now I am not saying it's a bad film--but to have earned as much as it did, you'd expect a brilliant film and "The Gods Must Be Crazy" is not brilliant. At times, it is very clever. However, many other times the film is a bit limp. Fortunately, the good well outweighs the bad.

The film begins with the bushmen of the Kalihari enjoying their peaceful nomadic lives. However, when a coke bottle inadvertently tossed out of a passing airplane lands among them, it causes all kinds of serious problems. As these simple people know nothing of the outside world, they think the airplane if from the gods--and the bottle must be a gift from them. But, when the people all begin to fight over this gift because they ALL wish to possess it (in a tribe where all possessions had previously been communal),Xi decides he must walk to the edge of the world to toss it back to the gods. And so, this simple man begins a long trek which brings him into the middle of some dopey South Africans and some revolutionaries.

The film's plot certainly is unique and the narration is clever in this early portion of the film. The problem is that when the film does not focus on the bushmen, it bogs down. The portion with the revolutionaries is rather irrelevant and, oddly, slapstick. And the South African man and woman generally play everything for laughs--which means even more very broad slapstick. And, when I say broad, I am talking too obvious and lacking subtlety. Much of the time, it looks a lot like a Three Stooges film. Fortunately, when Xi and his folks are on camera, the humor is MUCH more gentle and clever. I just wish more of the film had centered on them.

In some ways I could see people interpreting the film as very paternalistic in the way it portrays the black people in the film. While I can see this and know the film was made in South Africa during apartheid, I could also see someone looking past this as EVERYONE in the film is shown to be a bit stupid. In fact, while Xi and his people are ignorant of the world, if you see the film, you also see that they seem to have an innate wisdom even the white folks in the film lack. Charming but very flawed.

By the way, is the rhino in the film real?! It didn't look it and I can't see how the film could have been made with a real one.

THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY is a South African movie, filmed in Botswana, charting the misadventures of a scientist and a bushman as they are forced to team up to fight the fight against some evil revolutionary types. The film is notable for featuring a naturalistic performance from N!xau, who is the real deal and who appeared in a further four movies after his new-found fame here.

This is a slapstick comedy for the most part and for the most part it works very well. It is slapdash and unfocused in places, but in terms of location authenticity you can't get much better than this. N!xau only has a supporting role but he possesses a kind of natural charisma so you can see why he won the acclaim, even though he speaks in his unsubtitled language throughout, accompanied by an old-fashioned narrator.

Most of the comedy comes from the shenanigans of Marius Weyers, playing the scientist type. A lot of the humour is dumb and lowbrow, but it's also very funny, like the bit in the schoolroom or all the scenes involving the long-suffering jeep. The action set-piece climax is very well achieved and rounds off what is a completely unique and inventive production. I look forward to seeing the sequel.