The Gods Must Be Crazy Ii

For my taste, this is somewhat funnier and less politically offensive than the original, although it’s just as lightweight. Writer-director Jamie Uys plots out a new set of comic adventures for bushman Xixo (N!xau) in the Kalahari Desert, this time involving his two youngest children, Xisa and Xiri, who disappear when they accidentally fall into a poacher’s truck, as well as a stranded New York attorney (Lena Farugia) and a research zoologist (Hans Strydom) who eventually become an unlikely romantic couple, and a Cuban soldier (Erick Bowen) and an isolated Unita scout (Treasure Tshabalala) who keep taking each other prisoner. The gentle, whimsical satire of civilization is again pointed up by the use of Xixo as a sort of wise noble savage providing a shining example with his good sense. Uys’s juggling of the separate yet interlocking plotlines is fairly adroit, and his whimsy continues to be good humored, although once again it’s purchased with a sentimental and complacent view of African life designed to flatter the viewer. (JR)

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