I don't dislike this movie because it's exploitative or demeaning, as many anthropologists claim. While portrayal of the Bushmen life is a bit unfair in my opinion, I am not an anthropologist, nor am I majoring in anthropology. My feelings have nothing to do with that.
I dislike it because "guy with funny car" and "guy who falls over a lot" is NOT funny, but the film seems to think it is to the point where it repeats the same slapstick gags over and over again.
Since when is slapstick not funny? It was the premise for a lot of Buster Keaton and Keystone Cops in the early days... do you mean we've some how evolved past that? If so, explain how on Earth American still have "America's Funniest Home Videos"?
The fact that he repeatly does the same stuff is called a running gag. Must be a personal preference. As far as the exploitation, this movie made me want to learn MORE about the Bushmen and thier plight. If anything, it was more a satire on our way of life (see the first half-hour) than exploiting theirs.
OP has it very wrong!
The Bushmen portrayal was far from unfair, afterall, their purpose to the story was to illustrate that, although they live in what modern society would call poverty, they are well off for not having luxuries that are taken for granted and live a simple, care-free lives.
As for the comedy, I think the slapstick element gives the movie another dimension. Don't forget this movie is nearly 30 years old, had a minimal budget and used amatuers for actors. In my opinion, the director did a very good job, given these limitations.
It is a bit exploited, especially because Ulys potrays them as being untouched by the west which is entirely untrue during the time that this movie was filmed. In fact during the 80's was some of the worst time for these people because the white dictatorship in south africa was forcing the Bushmen to live in much smaller areas than they normally inabited to make room for farmers which changes their society because they are hunter gatherers and need more acres of land to gather enough food. instead they were feed on corn meal by the government which doesnt have enough tradition so their health was decreasing, they caught a lot of plagues because they lived in poverty too close to each other and the equality based structure of their society broke down as people started drinking and accusing each other of hiding things they get from whites instead of traditionally sharing like they used to.
Even if you make the claim that the movie is about before they encountered whites they still are inaccurate. Many of the Bushmen actors in the movie did not understand why Ulys was asking them to behave a certain way because that was not normal
the author of the post is right...this isn't AMERICAN PIE.
And THANKS TO THE GODS, these that are crazy, it isn't AMERICAN PIE.
I try to like this movie, until the scientist comes along...someone supposedly intelligent, but can't figure out how to get his jeep to cooperate?
When the jeep kept rolling down the hill, why didn't he whip out the winch and attach it to a tree, the fencepost or something? It added NOTHING to the film!
When they were stuck in the river, again, DING! Hey dummy, you have a winch you can rescue you and you girlfriend with, but instead make several unnecessary trips and wind up having it stuck up in a tree!
And, how long can a scene with a man knocking over tupperware go on for? I was waiting for Moe to come out and give him the two-finger-poke in the eyes!
And what is with the movie being sped up?
Sure, you can say it is a comedy, but the movie itself makes a very earnest attempt at being anything but in the first 20 minutes.
Keep the Bushman, the cranky mechanic, I can even handle the stiff government boobs and the Hispanic rebel left over from the days of Portuguese colonization of Africa....but what he's doing in Botswana is different story!
Further more, keep the girl, she's nice to look at, but for crying out loud, the implausibility of this guy's ineptitude and clumsiness negates any form of "Suspension of Belief" cultivated in the earlier stages of the film.
Again, why was it was necessary to speed everything up? To shorten the period of torture inflicted upon the viewer? Otherwise, it might have been 3 hours long! Heaven forbid.
4/10. Could have been better....
HAHAHA
I TOTALLY agree with Joaquinian!!!
that bit is classic!!!
Now to go wirte my 800 word argumentative essay on the movie..... WOO!!
Ever since I was young I have loved this movie. Everything has to be labelled as being hateful or racist or against religion now a days. What ever happened to the simple times where we could make fun of people, no matter what race, i mean there have been many movies that make fun of white people, chinese, black people, etc. it's never going to end people, no matter how much you want it to. We might as well accept what we cannot change and laugh at it because it's going to make life much easier and acceptable. What ever happened to something I like to call "a sense of humour"?
There are some who call me....Tim?
Actually, I thought it was a master piece movie...
It's full of wit, comedy, with dash of drama and violence. It was everything in one, really.
And what I loved most about it is how they explain Bushman's family and culture.
It's very interesting!
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Oooh! A shiny red ball!
I liked it aswell. Not all the jokes worked, but those who did were pretty funny! And I apreciated the whole satircial aspect of the movie, just my type of humour!
But I do think the majority of todays audience wouldnt funny the movie even slightly funny, since its so dated!