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From: mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett)
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.nlang.africa
Subject: Re: Two films on the !Kung
Message-ID: <594@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 25-Sep-85 10:26:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: petrus.594
Posted: Wed Sep 25 10:26:40 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 07:48:41 EDT
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> A person would have to be an idiot to see this film, and come away thinking
> he had learned something about the Bushmen and their living conditions...
> Jeff Lichtman

I may be an idiot, and I admit that the lifestyle of the bushmen was treated
superficially, but can someone tell me what errors lie in the following
impression of the bushmen:

	1)  They live in the Kalahari as semi-nomads in small family groups.
	2)  They are basically peaceful.
	3)  They do not recognize private property.
	4)  They are largely unexposed to the modern world.
	5)  They have a 'primitive' polytheistic religion which includes the
		belief that the gods provide all good things for them. 
	6)  They dress like that.
	7)  Their language has a lot of clicks in it.
	8)  They can survive in a harsh climate (as portrayed) with only a
		bow and arrow and some home-made tranquilizer.

I can see problems with (4) because the existance of such a film contradicts
it.  They portray only the ones who are untouched, which may be a very small
number of people.  Otherwise, this is a lot more than I knew about them
before.

Another point, did anyone notice in the scene with the school teacher in her
office job, there was a conversation between her and a black man (working
in a seemingly respectable job) where the dialog was changed.  The words
didn't match the lips, but only in that scene.  I wonder what it was
originally.

-Mark Garrett