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Nov. 9, 2006 Borat may be the funniest film ever Jeremy Kopp and Philip Lemaster Borat!: Jeremy: If you don't understand why the full title of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is funny, then chances are you probably aren't going to like this movie. Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a popular television personality in Kazakhstan, a terribly underdeveloped nation where Borat introduces us to his friend, a well-known and respected rapist, his next-door neighbor who won't stop stealing his alarm clock, and his sister, of whom he locks lips with passionately and proudly pronounces the No. 4 prostitute in the country (she even has a trophy to prove it). The Kazakhstan Ministry of Information asks Borat to travel to the “U S and A” to create a documentary detailing “a greatest country in the world” in order to better their socially-backward country. As it turns out, America is worse than Kazakhstan, with socially-backward people indifferent to their intolerance of those different from themselves. And Borat encounters a variety of these people; some of them staged, but most of them improvised with unaware participants, “Candid Camera” - style, in which we witness close-minded Americans casually confessing offensive and ignorant things. Keep in mind that that Borat character, for satirical purposes, is an ignorant bigot himself; he's a homophobe even though he doesn't know what a homosexual looks like, and downright intolerant of Jewish people (going as far as blaming them for 9/11 in one of the few lines that actually garnered moans from the audience). It's hilarious, then, when Borat partakes in a gay pride parade (he even has a homosexual experience but doesn't understand it’s homosexual because his country doesn't think of “them” that way) and spends the night at a bed and breakfast ran by an elderly Jewish couple, all improvised. And then there's one of my favorite scenes where Borat is being educated about etiquette through a hoity-toity, upper-society group who becomes irate once Borat's date, an overweight, African-American prostitute, arrives. It's politically incorrect, sexist and racist - intentionally on Cohen's part, out of sheer ignorance on part of the interviewees - and you might find yourself laughing as often as you'll be shaking your head in disgust. When Borat enters a gun shop and asks the clerk what the best weapon is to defend oneself from a Jew, the clerk doesn't even blink; he instead suggests an appropriate pistol. Or the hilariously sad segment where Borat travels across country with a group of drunk frat boys who believe America would be better of if slavery were still enact and women were kept barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. If you're still not finding any of this funny, then obviously this movie isn't for you, but a film that has the balls to acknowledge the fact that America harbors people even more stupid than Cohen's Borat character made for the best laughs I've had at a movie in years. Philip: High five! Based on 'Da Ali G Show,' 'Borat' follows Kazakhstani TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) as he is sent to the United States to learn about American culture. In general, translating television shows to the big screen is an unstated no-no, but stretching a sketch from a television show into a full-length film? Basically a death sentence. However, 'Borat' proves to be a wildly hilarious romp across America, blending a scripted storyline and unscripted interactions with unsuspecting American citizens. The film's plot jumpstarts in a New York hotel room as Borat watches 'Baywatch' and falls in love with Pamela Anderson. He discovers that Anderson lives in California, so he decides to buy a cheap used car (an ice cream truck) and ventures across the country in search of his undying love. Along the way, Borat finds himself in situations that induce both laughter and discomfort in the audience as he exposes our nation's bigotry. In one scene, a man tells Borat that gays hang from America's gallows, and soon after, spectators at a rodeo cheer as Borat announces that George Bush will soon drink the blood of every Muslim. The film works wonders as a comedy, and some critics are hailing it the funniest film ever made, but it will endure because it acts as a cultural mirror reflecting the racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia that is too often swept under the rug. Very nice! I like! |
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