FILM REVIEW

The movie The Gods Must Be Crazy that I reviewed was directed, produced and written by
Jamie Uys. This story brings out the different cultures and ways of living in South Africa. In
this movie, there were two types of societies with totally different culture and background.
One of the societies is the San people and the other one is the modern-living people.
The San tribe lives in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa. They live mostly surrounded by wild
animals in the desert. The San have idea of the modern people living off the deserts and in
the cities. But, they are certainly happy and not more that they want in their lives because
they believe that God has given them more than enough. One day, a Coca-Cola bottle fell
down to the Earth from the sky which was actually thrown out from an airplane. The San
people thought it was a gift from god since the unbroken bottle had many uses. Xi, a San
people used it to make music from the mouth of the bottle. The others used it as a tool for
their craft making. Unfortunately, there was only one bottle and everyone wanted to use it at
the same time. Suddenly, there was a conflict situation in their tribe. Xi got very angry and
disappointed with the gods gift. He threw it back to the sky but it kept falling back down.
Since the bottle brought envy, anger and violence to the tribe, Xi and his tribe gave it a
name, the evil thing and the said god must be crazy to send it to them. Trying to get rid of
the bottle was a failure for several times so, Xi decided to throw it at the end of the world
which is considered to be the cities modern people live.
On his journey to the edge of the world, Xi meets some modern people. He noticed that they
had different language and it was hard for him to understand them. Some of the people he
met were the biologist Andrew Steyn, who was studying the local animals; Kate Thompson,
the newly hired village school teacher; the terrorists led by Sam Boga, who are being
followed by the government troops from the attacked they made on the government building;
a tour guide named Jack Hind; and Steyns assistant and mechanic, Mpudi. Since Mpudi
had lived with the San before, he could communicate with Xi and they became friends. The
San shot animals to get food and they use a tranquilizer arrow. One day, Xi shoots a goat
that he ever seen for the first time in his life. But, the modern people living there took it as a
crime to kill an animal and Xi thought they were rude to take his meal away without sharing.
So, Xi was jailed for a few weeks and then, Steyn and Mpudi bailed him and employed him
as a tracker.
When Xi first met Kate, he thought she was the ugliest person he ever met since she was
wearing clothes and had white hair which was something new for his tribe who were half
naked and had black hair only. On the other hand, being with modern people, Xi experienced
to see bad, evil people too like the Guerillas who kidnapped children in Kates school just as

human protection to escape to the neighboring country. However, Steyn, Mpudi and Xi
managed to trap the terrorists with the use of the tranquilizer arrow from Xi to immobilize the
terrorists. They saved all children and Kate.
Nonetheless, even though they had different culture, language and believe, the San tribe
and modern people share one common value which is love. Humans are born to love each
other, so despite everything, love has a value on its own. An example of love in the San is
when Xis daughter cried because she had to lose her father for almost 20 days. She did not
want her father to leave, but she was the happiest person who hugged her father when Xi
returned to his tribe after throwing the evil thing into the thick layers of cloud at the edge of
the world. Xis tribe gave him a very warm welcome home. Other than that, modern people
show love too. An example is when Steyn becomes really nervous and clumsy when he
meets women. He really likes Kate but Jack often steals his chance of getting to know her.
Jack always shows off his rich looks and big car. But, fortunately, Kate got impressed by
Steyns confession and they began a relationship together.
Every culture has its own uniqueness. Therefore, a human society is defined by its own
culture and believes. In this movie, the San and the modern people have their own culture
and norms which makes them both unique.