For this assignment, you will write a review of the film "The Gods Must Be Crazy." You already have three examples of reviews that accompanied the film's first run in the United States (Summer 1984). They vary in their assessment and point of view, but they should provide you with some preliminary models and information for your own review.
The focus of your review should be: what comment(s) does this film make about the relationship of contemporary western civilization to the natural world and what kinds of implicit or explicit critiques is the director making about the values and condition of western civilization (here represented by South Africa during the reign of apartheid)? In otherwords, you are writing this for an audience who will decide whether or not to see the film on the basis of your response to that question. You may find that several of the essays we have read recently (e.g., "The Conundrum of Consumption," "The Assembly Line," and "La Mariposa, the Butterfly Woman") provide useful touchstones, or background for your discussions.
The paper should be 4-5 pages (1000-1250 words) in length. The conventions of the review format require that some of this space will be taken up by judicious and purposeful summary: you need to give your audience a sense of what the movie is about, either for the purpose of encouraging or discouraging their viewing of it.
Please turn your final drafts in to me (at: dmosser@vt.edu) via Eudora (preferably as a Word attachment). Please be sure to title the file (i.e., the Word file itself) with your last name and "essay4": e.g., "smith.essay4."