The gods must be mad

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Movie
German title The gods must be mad
Original title The Gods Must Be Crazy
Country of production South Africa , Botswana
original language English , Afrikaans , Ungwatsi
Publishing year 1980
length 109 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jamie Uys
script Jamie Uys
production Jamie Uys
music John Boshoff
camera Robert Lewis,
Buster Reynolds
cut Jamie Uys
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
The gods must be crazy II

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a South African movie from 1980, which was followed by two more parts in 1989 and 1993. Jamie Uys wrote the script and directed the first two parts. The film comedies in the series tell the story of a " Bushman " from the Kalahari desert , whose tribe first came into contact with western civilization . The film received a 1984 nomination for the César for Best Foreign Film .

action

One day in the African Kalahari desert, a glass Coca-Cola bottle thrown from an airplane causes quite a stir among the natives. The bottle lands right at the feet of the head of the tribe, Xi, who thinks it is a sign of the gods .

However, the natives have no idea what this gift from the gods could be for, and so everyone will try to find out. However, this also leads to more and more quarrels among the tribesmen because this “tool”, unlike other objects in their environment, is only available once. Therefore, Xi decides to bring this “bad thing” to the “end of the world” to give it back to the gods. Xi is leaving his territory for the first time. On the way he meets the microbiologist Steyn and the teacher Thompson, who Xi immediately mistook for gods because of their light skin color. He also keeps a herd of goats for unfamiliar wild animals and kills one to satisfy his hunger. Because he cannot communicate in his language with the police officer who has been summoned, he is shot by him and sentenced to three months in prison for killing the goat. Court interpreter Mpudi, who is also Steyn's assistant, and Steyn can save Xi from prison because there is a law that instead of imprisonment, work can be done at the same time and Steyn can employ Xi as a local botanist.

A group of terrorists around Sam Boga has meanwhile taken Thompson and her school class hostage to keep the pursuing police at a distance. A schoolchild from the kidnapped group comes to Steyn and makes him aware of the kidnappers who are not far away. Xi goes to the camp in the schoolgirl's clothes and can put the terrorists to sleep with very small anesthetic arrows, the police arrest them. Steyn dismisses Xi, who finds the “end of the world” on a steep cliff, throws the Coke bottle down and can now return to his tribe. Steyn, who is extremely clumsy in the presence of Thompson, is kissed by the teacher when she visits her again.

criticism

The film received mostly positive reviews, earning a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews. The average rating is 7.4 / 10. The American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and noted that it was easy to “make a farce about strange incidents in the desert”, but much more difficult to “admit funny interactions between nature and human nature demonstrate"; the film is "a wonderful little treasure". The lexicon of international films , however, wrote that the “promising satirical parable” would be “ blended with a love story and an action-like chase until it degenerated into unpretentious clothes”.

Sequels

In 1989 the sequel The Gods Must Be Crazy II appeared .

This was followed by three unofficial sequels produced in Hong Kong:

In 1991, the third part, Crazy Safari , was released on video in Germany under the title Jetzt even more crazy gods .

In 1993 the fourth part, Crazy Hong Kong , followed in Germany Help - Bushman escaped! was called. It was released on DVD in 2004 under the title The Gods Must Be Crazy III , directed by Welson Chin . Again it's about a Coke bottle, this time with a stuffed bird in it. Xixo travels after the woman who stuffed the bird into the bottle to have her take it out.

In 1994, a fifth part, The Gods Must Be Funny, followed in China , which has not yet appeared in German.

Director Jamie Uys died in 1996. The main actor Nǃxau died in 2003, shortly after filming a documentary about him, presumably of tuberculosis .

Web links

Wikiquote: The Gods Must Be Mad  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Awards. Internet Movie Database , accessed January 23, 2015 .
  2. ↑ The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980). Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 23, 2015 .
  3. ^ Roger Ebert : The Gods Must Be Crazy Movie Review. Chicago Sun-Times , accessed on February 9, 2014 (English): “It might be easy to make a farce about screwball happenings in the desert, but it's a lot harder to create a funny interaction between nature and human nature. This movie's a nice little treasure. "
  4. ↑ The Gods Must Be Mad in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed January 23, 2015.