The Gods Must Be Crazy

A voice-over narrator (Paddy O'Bryne) introduces Xi (N!xau) and his small nomadic African Bushman band who live in the deep Kalahari region of Botswana. They are a very primitive tribe who survive in the treacherous desert by hunting and using ingenious methods to collect water. They speak a primitive language called Ungwatsi which uses multiple clicks in their voices (which is shown by exclamation points in names and words; a real-life fact). These gentile African people have no possessions, no money, no crime, no laws, no police, no judges, no real rulers, and no bosses. They are extremely happy. One day a pilot flying a bushman aircraft tosses an empty Coca-Cola bottle from his low-flying aircraft and it lands near the Bushmans camp. The Bushmen think it is a gift from the gods that they worship; therefore it must be useful. They begin to use it to make music, do work, and play. But adults and children soon start fighting over it, which causes friction among the group and even clunks a couple of them on their heads when they start fighting over using it. Wanting harmony to return, Xi volunteers to the elders that he will set out to the edge of the world so he can throw the bottle off and return it to the gods. He walks out of the desert with the bottle to find his way. Meanwhile in South African, Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo), is a white Afrikaaner living in the city of Johnanassburg who decides that she has had enough of the crazy-making crowded city and of her dreary office job. She accepts a teaching position in Botswana. Microbiologists Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers) offers to pick her up at Mabula, although he becomes an idiot around women. His friend and assistant Mpudi (Michael Thys), a light-skinned black, warns him that the jeep they have has no brakes and won't restart if the engine is turned off. After a difficult journey, Steyn picks up Kate and he is tongue-tied around the pretty schoolteacher. When the jeep stalls in a river, Steyn carries Kate across... but then knocks her into the water. With their jeep broken down, they must make camp for the night. Kate thinks that Steyn is weird and doesn't trust him because he keeps falling on her. The next morning, Steyn accidentally pulls the jeep up a tree. Just then Xi happens along. Having never seen white people before in his life, he tries to give the Coca-Cola bottle to Styne and Kate who refuse. With the language barrier since Xi cannot speak any English or Afrikaans, and neither Styne or Kate understanding Xi's Bushman Ungwatsi language, they think he is odd, Xi thinks that Styne and Kate are "crazy" gods from noticing the way they act, and foolish as well. Unsuccessull at his attempts to communicate, Xi walks away, disappointed in these "gods". Mpudi tows Styne and Kate toward the nearest town. Jank Hind (Nic de Jager) an egotistical local tour driver, gives Kate a ride, making Steyn jealous. A little later, Xi kills a goat for food, not knowing it is a part of ranch herd. Xi is arrested by the local authorities and taken to a local courthouse and put on trial. Mpudi, who once lived with the local Bushmen, defends him in court and acts as Xi's translator, truthfully telling the magistrate judge over him not knowing that the goat was part of a private herd. But Xi is found guilty and given a short prison term. In jail, Xi sinks in a deep depression, refusing to eat or speak. However, a few days later, Steyn gets Xi out of jail on a work-release program by saying that he needs Xi to help him and Mpudi in their work. Steyn goes to the schoolhouse where Kate works and attempts to win over Kate. But his efforts go awry when he trips over words, and any furniture that happens to be around. He ends up wrecking her schoolroom. After Steyn leaves, Jack courts Kate over the incident. Elsewhere, having failed to assassinate a president of a northern state, a group of African guerrillas led by the light-skinned Sam Boca (Louw Verwey) cross the border from South Africa into Botswana. The avoid arrest by abducting Kate and all the children from the school. They walk towards the border, threatening to kill the hostages if anyone gets in their way. From a distance, Steyn Xi, and Mpudi are observing a herd of gazelles when they see the guerrillas and the children hostages. Wanting to save them, Xi dresses up as a female child and sneaks into their camp. He dips a pin into a drug that Steyn gave him and uses it to put Boca and several of his men to sleep to allow Kate and the children to escape. But two guards who has sneaked away to play cards, reappear and fire on them trying to get away. Kate and the children take cover behind some rocks. However, Steyne and Mpudi arrive on the scene and subdue and capture both guerrillas. Jack arrives and takes all the credit for the rescue. A day or so later, Steyn tries one more time to try to win Kate, but when he goes to her classroom, he wrecks it, but she tells him that he's sweet and gives him a kiss. Steyn is overjoyed that he has finally won her heart. Xi says farewell to his new friends Steyn, Kate and Mpudi and walks away back into the desert. He walks and walks for several days until he finds himself standing on a cliff above the clouds. Thinking that this is the edge of the word, he tosses the Coke bottle away. He turns away and another few days later, he safely returns to his people.