The Gods Must Be Crazy

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) is a comedy by Jamie Uys you can watch online on iFILM. A glass Coca-Cola bottle, tossed from a passing plane, lands intact in the Kalahari Desert. A San bushman named Xi picks it up and assumes the gods sent it down.

At first the strange object helps everyone in the band — grinding food, curing hides, making music. Then jealousy creeps in. There is only one bottle and many hands, and soon the peaceful group is fighting for the first time. Xi sets off to carry the cursed thing to the edge of the world and throw it away. His trek collides with so-called civilization: a clumsy biologist, a city schoolteacher, and a band of bumbling guerrillas.

Shot across Botswana and South Africa, the film cast real San hunter N!xau, who had never seen a movie camera. Uys blends silent-era slapstick, nature documentary and a sly poke at modern progress, which is why the laughs land without a single famous face on screen. Tired of loud, effects-heavy blockbusters? This gentle bit of nonsense is the cure. Stream The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) online on iFILM.