The Gods Must Be Crazy

A unique film with a brilliant combination of slapstick, subtle humour, wonderful music, brilliant wildlife and scenic shots, all beautifully woven into a piece in an almost "road-style" movie around the adventures of a bushman. Like any story, there are some aspects which are slightly unbelievable if you stop to think - but the skill of the film is that it is sufficiently convincing to suspend such unbelief whilst you watch. The message of the film is brilliantly presented, subtly challenging the belief that white civilization has all the answers, gently poking fun at many of our western assumptions (no idea why anyone thinks it's racist - it may be the opposite)! Some of the high points for me personally were the scenery, the wildlife, and the African huts, children and music. Having lived in Africa for 3 years it was absolutely true to life, and brought back fond memories. This is a classic that will bear watching time and time again, and so different from the run of the mill films generally churned out. A classic - 9/10.

I well remember this film playing for months on end during its initial run, but never went to see it because something felt off about it to me. Having watched it recently via FXM Retro, now I know what was 'off': The Gods Must Be Crazy is an offensive and patronizing piece of apartheid propaganda dressed up as a gosh-aren't-the-natives-cute travelogue. To make matters worse, the film's white characters are horribly dubbed with trans-Atlantic accents. It's not funny, it's not clever, and I'll never watch it again.