Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
(2006) dir. Larry Charles
viewed: 11/12/06 at Selma Cinema, Selma, CA
This film is funny. Funny as hell at certain points, less so in others, but overall, is pretty hilarious and clever.
It’s not without its points of cringe-worthy events or words. It’s little wonder Kazakhstan has taken umbrage with this. Sascha Baron Cohen creates a very offensive portrait of the country and though to someone who is more in on the joke than some, it’s clear that this is all done in a very fantastiacal and extreme tone, suggesting that the point isn’t so much about Kazakhstan but it was just a convenient and largely “unknown” place to Westerners. But the reason that the film is so funny is often because he is willing to say such outrageous things and be as offensive as possible in character. Borat is an anti-Semite of the most archaic manner, but as many people point out, Cohen himself is Jewish, and there is a strong sense that this isn’t about anti-Semitism so much, except when he gets people to agree with him.
Very much Andy Kaufman-like in his playing his character against a duped crowd, Cohen’s most telling moments are those when he gets genuine reactions from Americans who take him utterly at face value. It’s downright frightening what he ellicits: a rodeo manager who says that Americans would like to execute gays, frat boys who say that slavery would improve America, and others. Other times, it is hilarious the dupes he plays by coming back to a dinner table with a bag of his poop, asking where it should go, scaring New Yorkers to frequent violent threats when he tries to kiss them in welcoming, and most extremely when he praises the nation’s “War of Terror” to the crowd at a rodeo, going as far as to say that he hopes that George Bush will drink the blood of every man, woman, and child in Iraq in victory. Many folks blanched at that, but there were those still hooting and hollering.
The naked wrestling between Borat and his producer played by Ken Davitian, who is portly to the extreme, is hilarious but gruesome, though it really gains its teeth as the two chase down the hall and into a crowded elevator, eventually spilling over into the lobby and a convention. The tastelessness is at times very grating and somewhat creepy. But mostly it works, in spades.
It’s a telling film and funny as hell. And while Kazakhstan has every right to find this offensive, the scarier moments are all about the reality of America and the way that people think and act and treat others. Kazakhstan may be jokingly portrayed as racist, incestual, superstitious, and technologically challenged, but America is literally shown to be racist, misogynist, homophobic, and condescending. And while Kazakhstan has a right to be angry, Americans have an onus of embarrassment shown in this film.
