“Comedy is a great way to reach people. It’s an international language. If you can make people laugh, you can make them understand. Comedy is the most painless way of getting a serious message across,” says filmmaker Jamie Uys about The Gods Must Be Crazy.
Jamie Uys wrote, produced, edited, and directed The Gods Must Be Crazy. The film was an international co-production between South Africa and Botswana.
Uys saw this as an opportunity to explore themes of cultural clash and the impact of foreign objects on indigenous cultures. His goal was to create a lighthearted yet thought-provoking film that would entertain audiences while also shedding light on the challenges faced by traditional societies in the modern world.
The film was a commercial and critical success, particularly in South Africa, where it broke several box office records. It was later released internationally by 20th Century Fox in 1984. The film’s success led to several sequels, including The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989), which continued the story of Xi and his encounters with modern society. The series expanded to include several unofficial sequels, further cementing its place in cinematic history.
“I didn’t expect the film to be so successful. I thought it was just a small, funny film, but it seems to have touched a lot of people around the world. I think it’s because it shows that even in our crazy world, there is still room for kindness and innocence.”
“It’s just slapstick comedy, with no message. I’ve been making comedies most of my life, and I’ve never put a message in – it’s bad for business. It’s arrogant to put messages in. You rob your audiences of putting in their own messages.”
Jamie Uys was inspired to make The Gods Must Be Crazy in 1980 by his fascination with the San people of the Kalahari Desert and their unique way of life
He wanted to create a film that humorously highlighted the contrast between their simple, natural lifestyle and the complexities of modern civilization.
Uys conceived the premise of The Gods Must Be Crazy while making the 1974 documentary Animals Are Beautiful People. The documentary was filmed partially on the Kalahari Desert, where Uys first encountered the San people and “fell in love with them”.
Uys chose a Coca-Cola bottle as the object that the San people would discover and covet in The Gods Must Be Crazy because he felt that the bottle was representative of “our plastic society”, and because it “is a beautiful thing, if you’ve never seen glass before”
“Making a film is never easy. There are always obstacles and problems to overcome, but I believe that if you have a good story and are passionate about it, you can make a great film. You just have to be persistent and never give up.”
Uys noted that he modelled the character of Andrew Steyn after himself: “I used to be awkward like that, especially with women. But then, I think most young guys knock things over with their first girl”.
After writing the script for The Gods Must Be Crazy, Uys reportedly spent three months traversing the Kalahari Desert with an interpreter, searching for a San person to play the role of Xi in the film. Visiting areas of the desert inhabited by the San, Uys took photographs of individuals he felt he might cast, and then “marked the longitude and latitude, so we could find them again”.
Uys decided to cast Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma as Xi, and later recalled that “At first [Nǃxau] didn’t understand, because they have no word for work. Then the interpreter asked, ‘Would you like to come with us for some days?'” N!xau agreed and flew with Uys by aeroplane to Windhoek, Namibia, which served as a base for the film’s production. Uys stated “the airplane didn’t impress him at all. He thinks we are magicians, so he believes we can do anything. Nothing impressed him”. In his hotel room, N!xau agreed to use the toilet, but slept on the floor rather than on the provided bed.
According to Uys, N!xau would be flown back to his home in the Kalahari Desert every three or four weeks to prevent him from suffering from culture shock. During his time in urban areas, N!xau learned to smoke and acquired an affinity for liquor and sake. Uys said that he paid N!xau $300 for his first 10 days of work, but that the money was reportedly blown away by wind. N!xau was then compensated with 12 head of cattle. In 1985, Uys said that he had sent N!xau $100 a month since filming, which N!xau used at a trading store 100 km (60 miles) from his hunting ground, Uys also stated that a $20,000 trust account in N!xau’s name had been established.
The film stars Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma as Xi, a hunter-gatherer of the Kalahari Desert. The story begins when Xi’s tribe discovers a glass Coca-Cola bottle that has fallen from an airplane, believing it to be a gift from their gods. As the bottle causes unforeseen conflict within the tribe, Xi decides to embark on a journey to return the bottle to the gods. Along the way, Xi encounters various characters, including a biologist named Andrew Steyn (played by Marius Weyers), a newly hired village school teacher named Kate Thompson (played by Sandra Prinsloo), and a band of guerrilla terrorists. The film humorously contrasts Xi’s simple, natural lifestyle with the complexities and conflicts of modern civilization.
Prince Albert Movie Club
South African Filmmaking
