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Printer-Friendly ModeCultural learnings of Borat make benefit America
November 13, 2006 —
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is currently the most talked-about movie in theaters and for good reason. It is one of the most wildly offensive and outrageous releases in recent memory. It's also probably the funniest movie of the year.
Sacha Baron Cohen plays Borat Sagdiyev, a character he created and has played numerous times on "Da Ali G Show." Borat is a journalist from Kazakhstan, and after he introduces us to his neighborhood, the camera follows him in what is meant to be a documentary about America, for the purpose of informing the Kazakhstani people about the U.S.
Borat is quite a character. A lanky figure sporting a cheap suit and large moustache, there is an air about him that is just a little different than any other character I have seen. He runs and walks with a comically awkward gait and has a way of speaking English that never ceases to amuse.
The majority of the film, and the best parts of it, feature Borat making his way through various U.S. cities and finding hilarity at every stop. The fact that he is making a documentary about America (he even brings his producer with him) allows him to be granted audience with more than just passersbys on the street.
Multiple social and ethnic groups are poked fun at in the film. Sometimes this is blatant, and, in other cases, Borat prods people into inadvertently poking fun at themselves.
It is often difficult to discern whether or not the situations Borat finds himself in are set up beforehand (with actors playing the people reacting to him) or if the situations are truly orchestrated on the spot with unwitting individuals.
I get the impression that the movie contains some of both. During a time in which documentaries and non-fictional movies such as Jackass are gaining popularity, it's interesting to see the line between fiction and reality being toyed with like this.
Much of Borat's antics reminded me of "The Tom Green Show," and specifically the segments in which Green would venture out and do outrageous things in public to get under people's skin and make them feel uncomfortable, with often amusing results. Borat, though, is much more intelligent about this.
Rather than just doing random things, Cohen simply is Borat, whose apparent cultural norms are so wildly different from what we as Americans are used to that, not only are his actions funny by themselves, the reactions of the people around him make it even better.
I use the phrase "apparent cultural norms" because Borat (and his village at the beginning of the movie) does not seem to be modeled in any way after Kazakhstan or Kazakhstani people. I think this is deliberate and just adds another level to the fiction vs. reality question of the movie.
For all its hilarity, Borat does have its flaws. Since the comedy is so dependent upon random meetings and strangers rather than additional characters, the movie necessarily suffers when the storyline is pushed to the forefront. Also, the much-discussed nude wrestling scene felt unnecessary, like a cheap laugh amidst the cleverness of the rest of the movie.
Borat does succeed though, thanks to the character of Borat himself, who Cohen is so consistent with it's like he might as well be him.
Certainly Borat is one character who will be hard to forget, and the movie itself, while offensive, is lighthearted enough in its way that it is not a difficult task to take a step back and laugh at the comedy of the world, which it portrays so well.