Modern people know nothing but use the tools they make.
God Is Crazy is a film produced by Jensen Farley Pictures, directed by Jamie Uys and starring Sandra Prinsloo, Marius Weyers, Vera Blacker, Brian O'Shaughnessy and others. The film is divided into two parts. Through what Kay has seen and heard in the modern world, as well as the love story of two modern men and women, it shows the people the conflict and collision between modern civilization and primitive civilization, and inspires people to think about who is who? civilization? What is civilization? Is the barbarism and civilization in our traditional cognition really correct?
Therefore, the content is actually very simple. It is mainly the story of the Bushman, a primitive social group in the Kalahari desert area of Africa, and modern urban men and women under various coincidences. In the end, there is a lover who finally gets married and everyone reunites at the end. There are a lot of laughs, but at the same time as the belly laughs, it also makes people fall into deep thinking.
First of all, what exactly is civilization? At the beginning of the film, the director is like us showing two very different ways of life between Bushman and modern people.
The narration says, "their (Bushmans) world is full of goodness and beauty... The Bushmen have never seen or heard of the so-called civilization", and the picture turns to describe the modern civilization People under the system seem to be gradually improving their lives, but they do not realize that they are trapped in another "natural environment" at the same time, but it is the "cage" enclosed by the steel they have built. The complex and even dangerous interpersonal and social relationships ignore all the "truth, goodness and beauty" around them, and only interests are the eternal topic. Modern people are no longer in awe of nature, and know nothing about the nature that is just a short distance away. It is difficult to survive in the meantime. Are such people really civilized? Can such a civilization really be worthy of the "spirit of all things" human beings? This is thought-provoking.
There is also a small detail in the movie. After Kay the Bushman "stealed" a sheep, everyone brought it to court. It is difficult for Boudi to translate:
In the original Bushman, there is no "guilt", everything is shared, all food, tools, fire are shared by a "big family", there is no concept of "private property", let alone no existence The act of theft, their world is full of "truth, goodness and beauty", without the shackles of law. The law is a "violent machine" existing in the state. Its appearance is related to the emergence of private property and the result of the infinite enlargement of human greed. In terms of "culture", it seems to be "progress", but in terms of human nature, is it "progress" or "regression", "civilization" or "barbarism"? Now I think of the "Book of Rites": "It is done by saints, and it is the etiquette to teach people, so that people can be polite, and know that they are different from animals." Suddenly, I have a new thinking, and why do we distinguish ourselves from animals? In fact, it is precisely because people at this time have become so-called "beasts" under the influence of interests. Otherwise, why should they be different from animals?
The most thought-provoking scene in the movie is what Kai said to his relatives after returning to the tribe:
"Let things run or fly, but they're not smart...because without those things, they can't survive." The shock during this period made me unable to return to my senses for a long time. We "modern civilized people" who claim to be "wise" and "higher than barbaric civilization", where exactly is our civilization? It is thought-provoking that the high-level wisdom of making and using tools that once boasted is not bound by these tools, just as the ancestors were bound by the natural environment.
The director is an obvious postmodernist. The thinking and brushstrokes of postmodernism profoundly criticize and reflect on human civilization, and also inspire us to rethink our society and civilization. Of course, we still believe in and recognize the progress and development of society, but in this In the process, we should reflect and examine the so-called "civilization", the so-called "barbarism" and the so-called "progress" that we are accustomed to, which may be helpful for us to correctly understand the world and society.
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