“The Gods Must Be Crazy” is a refreshing change from the stale comedies, smash-em-up action movies and tear-jerking dramas one usually rents at the local video store. This satirical peek at “modern” society will leave you both laughing hysterically and seriously pondering the advantages of industrialized civilization.

The film opens more like a “National Geographic” documentary than a comedy. The narrator, in his rich baritone, describes the African landscape, dotted with animals swatting their tails and yawning. He goes on to discuss the Bushmen – “the only people who could live in the Kalahari desert” – and their simple way of life.

According to the trusty narrator, the Bushmen are the most contented people on the earth and “believe the gods only give good things to them.” They are totally isolated from the rest of society and have no idea anyone else in the world even exists.

The comedy soon begins. One day, a pilot carelessly tosses a Coke bottle out of his plane (which the Bushmen believe is a noisy bird) and it lands in their camp. The Bushmen think the bottle is a gift from the gods and “the strangest and most beautiful thing they had ever seen.”

Problems soon arise, however. The Bushmen, who had never had a sense of ownership, now argue over the use of the wonderful gift, even becoming violent and bonking each other on the head with it. Finally, they realize the thing is making them evil and resolve to get rid of it.

Xi, the leader of the band, volunteers to take the “Evil Thing” to the end of the earth and drop it off. His family is fearful – it could take him at least 20 days to walk that far – but he begins his journey nonetheless.

Meanwhile, a few hundred miles to the north, a group of assassins attempts a coup on the civilized country’s government. They end up killing the president and flee, with troops on their trail, to Botswana.

Kate Thompson, a blonde British journalist, is also on her way to Botswana to teach school children on her leave of absence. When she arrives, she is met by Andrew Steyn, who turns into a “complete idiot” around women.

Some of the funniest scenes in the movie involve their journey back to the village. Steyn’s jeep, fondly dubbed “the Antichrist,” has no brakes and he is constantly jumping out of the car to stop it. At one point, it ends up hanging upside down from a tree, as the hapless Steyn looks on.

Inevitably, Xi, the assassins and Thompson and Steyn all meet up, in what results in a hilarious turn of events. Xi, who at first thinks Steyn and Thompson are ugly gods, soon learns there is more to life than his own tribe.

A handful of stock characters are tossed in for amusemnt. There is the sleazy Jack Hinds, Steyn’s enemy who cruises around in his Safari Lodge, takes credit for Steyn’s heroics and tries to woo Kate. Then there are the two rebel guards, who are constantly playing gin, even when blowing a helicopter out of the sky. Steyn’s partner, Mtubi, tries to teach him how to deal with women, as he is an expert with seven wives.

In many respects, “The Gods Must Be Crazy” (made in 1980) is suspiciously similiar to the popular “Crocodile Dundee.” Both feature an attractive journalist, who falls in love with the man-among-the-natives. Paul Hogan and the actor playing Steyn even look and sound alike. Both movies were low-budget imports, though “Crocodile Dundee” made much more money at the box office.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” has more of a moral to the story, however. We see the contrast between Xi, who comes from a passive, simple life, and the products of the big city–greedy assassins and untrusting villagers.

We begin to question the benefits of modern life. As the narrator points out, man invented a flood of things to make his life easier but finds he has made it more complicated in the process.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” is available in most video stores and is often featured on cable television. For a good laugh–and something different–it comes highly recommended.