Film no.3 The Gods Must Be Crazy

the Gods Must Be Crazy, Jamie Uys, Botswana, South Africa, 1980

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a 1980 film, written and directed by Jamie Uys. The film is the first in The Gods Must Be Crazy series of films. Set in Botswana and South Africa, it tells the story of Xi, a Sho of the Kalahari Desert (played by Namibian San farmer Nǃxau) 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 film has a huge cult following.

The film is a collision of three separate stories—the journey of a Ju/'hoansi bushman to the end of the earth to get rid of a Coca-Cola bottle, the romance between a bumbling scientist and a schoolteacher, and a band of guerrillas on the run.

Xi and his tribe of San/Bushmen relatives are living well off the land in the Kalahari Desert. They are happy because the gods have provided plenty of everything, and no one in the tribe has unfulfilled wants. One day, a glass Coke bottle is thrown out of an aeroplane and falls to earth unbroken. Initially, this strange artifact seems to be another 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 go around. 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.

Since it has caused the tribe unhappiness on two occasions, Xi decides that the bottle is an evil thing and must be thrown off of the edge of the world. He sets out alone on his quest and encounters Western civilization for the first time. The film presents an interesting interpretation of civilization as viewed through Xi's perceptions. - Wikipedia

Jamie Uys

He made his debut as a film director in 1951 with the Afrikaans-language film Daar doer in die bosveld. He directed 24 films in total.

Uys received the 1981 Grand Prix at the Festival International du Film de Comedy Vevey for The Gods Must Be Crazy, and in 1974 he received the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award for best documentary for Beautiful People.

The two Beautiful People films were documentaries about the plant and animal life in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, especially desert creatures. A highlight of the film included a scene with elephants, warthogs, monkeys and other animals staggering around after eating rotten, fermented marula fruit.

Jamie Uys' biggest and best known movie was The Gods Must Be Crazy. In this movie he featured a bushman called N!xau in the lead role. This was a comedy in which a Coke bottle that was thrown out of an aeroplane, fell in the Kalahari Desert and was found by the San tribe. As this was the only "modern" object in their world, it led to strife and it was decided that the bottle had to be returned to the Gods, who must have sent it in the first place. The character played by N!xau was given the task to return it. The movie generated massive word-of-mouth success in America, Japan, Europe, and other territories, with the movie rights initially being sold to 45 countries.^[1]It spawned a less successful sequel, The Gods Must Be Crazy II.

Uys earlier made another movie set substantially in the Kalahari Desert. This is Lost in the Desert, and tells the story of 8-year-old Dirkie Hayes' efforts to survive in the desert after surviving a plane crash, whilst his father Anton mounts increasingly desperate efforts to find him. As well as directing the movie, Jamie Uys also played the part of Anton, and his son Wynand Uys played the part of Dirkie. Some early sources and credits name the director and actor of Anton's part as Jamie Hayes, and name Wynand Uys as Dirkie Hayes; but the relatively recent DVD release of the movie is attributed to their real names.

Uys' other well-known movie was Funny People in 1977, which was a comedy in the same genre as Candid Camera in the U.S., putting unsuspecting people in embarrassing positions. These included a talking postbox, with the voice of a man claiming to be trapped inside, who asks a passer-by for help. When the passer-by returns with his friends, the 'talking' postbox is silent, and his friends accuse him of being drunk. The sequel, Funny People II was released in 1983, and features a young Arnold Vosloo, who has since found fame in Hollywood.