The Gods Must Be Crazy
- PG
- Year:
- 1980
- 109 min
- 2,363 Views
It looks like a paradise, but it is the
most treacherous desert in the world:
The Kalahari.
After the short rainy season...
...there are many water holes,
and even rivers.
But after a few weeks, the water sinks
away into the deep Kalahari sand.
and the rivers stop flowing.
The grass fades to a beautiful
blond colour...
...that offers excellent grazing.
But for the next nine months,
there`ll be no water to drink.
So most of the animals move away,
leaving the blond grass uneaten.
Humans avoid the Kalahari like the
plague because man must have water.
So the beautiful landscapes
are devoid of people.
Except for the little people
of the Kalahari.
Pretty, dainty, small and graceful,
the Bushmen.
Where any other person
would die of thirst in a few days...
...they live quite contentedly
in this desert.
They know where to dig for roots
and bugs and tubers...
...and which berries and pods
are good to eat.
Of course they know what to do
about water.
In the early morning,
you can collect dewdrops...
...from leaves that were carefully
laid out the previous evening.
Or a plume of grass
can be a reservoir.
If you have the know-how, a clump
of twigs can tell you where to dig...
...and you come to light
with an enormous tuber.
You scrape shavings off it with a stick
that is split for a sharp edge.
You take a handful of the shavings, point
your thumb at your mouth and squeeze.
They must be the most
contented people in the world.
They have no crime, no punishment,
no violence, no laws...
...no police, judges, rulers or bosses.
They believe that the gods put only good
and useful things on the earth for them.
In this world of theirs,
nothing is bad or evil.
Even a poisonous snake is not bad.
You just have to keep away
from the sharp end.
Actually, a snake is very good.
In fact, it`s delicious.
And the skin makes a fine pouch.
They live in the vastness of the
Kalahari in small family groups.
One family of Bushmen might meet up
with another once in a few years.
But for the most part,
they live in complete isolation...
...unaware there are other people
in the world.
In the deep Kalahari, there are Bushmen
who have not heard of civilized man.
Sometimes they hear a thundering
sound when there are no clouds.
They assume the gods have eaten too
much and their tummies are rumbling.
Sometimes they can even see
the evidence of the gods` flatulence.
Their language has
an idiosyncrasy of its own.
It seems to consist
mainly of clicking sounds.
They`re very gentle people.
So the kids are extremely well-behaved.
Their games are cute and inventive.
When the family needs meat...
...the hunter dips his arrow
in a brew that acts as a tranquilliser.
When he shoots a buck, it feels
a sting and the arrow drops out.
The buck runs away,
but soon it gets drowsy...
...and it stops running.
After a while, it goes to sleep.
The hunter apologizes. He explains
that his family needs the meat.
The characteristic which really makes
them different from all other races...
...is that they have
Where they live,
there`s nothing you can own.
Only trees and grass and animals.
a stone or a rock in their lives.
are wood and bone.
They live in a gentle world, where nothing
is as hard as rock, steel or concrete.
Only 600 miles to the south,
there`s a vast city.
And here you find civilized man.
Civilized man refused
to adapt himself to his environment.
Instead he adapted his environment
to suit him.
So he built cities, roads,
vehicles, machinery.
And he put up power lines
to run his labour-saving devices.
But he didn`t know when to stop.
The more he improved his
surroundings to make life easier...
...the more complicated he made it.
Now his children are sentenced to
...how to survive in this complex
and hazardous habitat.
And civilized man, who refused
to adapt to his surroundings...
...now finds he has to adapt
and re-adapt...
...every hour of the day
to his self-created environment.
For instance, if it`s Monday...
...and 7:
30 comes up, you have to dis-adapt from your domestic surroundings...
...and re-adapt yourself to an
entirely different environment.
has to look busy.
I`ve got a good story
about handicapped chiIdren.
Handicapped children? No! You don`t
recommend stuff you don`t....
Sorry. I`II onIy print sweetness and Iight,
even if it bores the pants off them.
busy for 1 5 minutes.
And then,
you have to look busy again.
-Hi, Kate.
-Hi, Pete.
Can you use this about the
teacher shortage in Botswana?
-Good story?
-Yeah.
They`II take anybody
who can read and write.
I don`t know. I got bawIed out
for writing a story on mugging.
My page shouId be sweet and Iight,
Iike Liberace and Jackie Onassis.
Your day is chopped into pieces.
In each segment of time...
-...you adapt to new circumstances.
-May I share a tabIe?
off the rails a bit.
Does the noise in my head
bother you?
No.
StiII got that story about
the teacher shortage in Botswana?
-Yeah. You gonna use it?
-No. Maybe they can use me.
In the Kalahari, it`s always Tuesday,
or Thursday if you like. Or Sunday.
No clocks or calendars tell you
to do this or that.
Lately, strange new things
sometimes appeared in the sky.
Noisy birds that flew
One day, something fell from the sky.
Xi had never seen anything
like this in his life.
It looked like water, but it was harder
than anything else in the world.
He wondered why the gods
had sent this thing down to the earth.
It was the strangest and most
beautiful thing they had ever seen.
They wondered why the gods
had sent it to them.
Pabo got his finger stuck in the thing and
the children thought he was very funny.
Xi tried the thing out to cure thongs.
It had the right shape and weight.
It was also beautifully smooth
and ideal for curing snakeskin.
And Pabo discovered
And every day they discovered
a new use for the thing.
It was harder and heavier and smoother
than anything they`d ever known.
It was the most useful thing
the gods had ever given them.
A real labour-saving device.
But the gods had been careless.
They had sent only one.
Now, for the first time, here was a
thing that could not be shared...
...because there was only one of it.
Suddenly, everybody needed it
most of the time.
A thing they had never needed before
became a necessity.
And unfamiliar emotions
began to stir.
of not wanting to share.
Other new things came.
Anger, jealousy, hate and violence.
Xi was angry with the gods.
He shouted, ``Take back your thing!
We don`t want it!
Look at the trouble it brought. ``
The gods did not take it back.
He shouted, ``You must be crazy
to send us this thing! Take it back!``
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"The Gods Must Be Crazy" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_gods_must_be_crazy_9094>.
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