The Gods Must Be Crazy

This instant cult-classic from South Africa is one of the funniest movies to hit the silver screen in the past decade, period. Opening with a tribe of Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert who are surprised by the landing of a Coke bottle (a gift from the gods), the film plays havoc with the ripe possibilities of culture shock. After everyone in the tribe finds a wonderful new use for the Coke bottle--which, of course, leads to bickering amongst the natives--one of the Bushmen, Xi, treks off towards the end of the earth, where he intends to throw the gift back to the gods. Along the way, he encounters a bumbling English scientist, a pretty schoolteacher, and a mad politician bent on bloody coup. Not since the Keystone Cops has physical comedy been used to such advantage as it is here (one scene in particular, which involves a Jeep without brakes rolling back and forth in a dip in the road, is side-splitting). And once Xi hooks up with the English, no comic situation is over looked: from hunting game (unfortunately, on a ranch) to driving a Jeep (mostly backwards). Some controversy, quite unjustified, has arisen over the political nature of the film--but we think you'd have to be a poly-sci major in search of a master's topic in order to consider this a political film. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review--Mar. 9, 2004--Columbia TriStar, 109/98 min., PG, $29.95--Making their debut on DVD in a double-disc set, the cult favorite 1980 The Gods Must Be Crazy and 1989 follow-up The Gods Must Be Crazy II both look a little shopworn (though the sequel is less so) but boast serviceable anamorphic widescreen transfers and Dolby Digital stereo sound. Unfortunately, the extras are a bit on the skimpy side. The Gods Must Be Crazy includes the alternately fascinating and frustrating 25-minute featurette “Journey to Nyae Nyae,” in which filmmaker/enthusiast Daniel Riesenfeld went to South Africa to visit with N!xau in 1990 and again shortly before his death in 2003: the footage is intriguing, but almost none of N!xau's comments (which take up about one-quarter or more of the running time) are translated. The Gods Must Be Crazy II includes the seven-minute featurette “Buster Reynolds Remembers Jamie Uys,” in which cinematographer Reynolds fondly reminisces about the director, who died in 1996. Bottom line: while not the spiffiest of transfers and rather bare bones, extra-wise, we'll take the Gods any way we can get them, and as a double-disc set for $29.95, they're a steal.]