Borat

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

by Jane Louise Boursaw

Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian
Director: Larry Charles
Writers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer
Release Date: Nov. 3, 2006
Running Time: 90 min.
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive, strong, crude, and sexual content, including graphic nudity and language.
Reel Rating: 3 out of 4 Reels

America is about to be amused, offended, outraged, or maybe all three when this movie opens in November. If the audience at the 2nd Annual Traverse City Film Festival this summer is any indication, "amused" is the most likely scenario. At the film's screening in Traverse City, Michigan, the audience laughed hysterically from the opening title to the end credits.

Here's the gist: The small country of Kazakhstan is in a state of poverty and needs a serious overhaul. So the leaders decide to learn from "the greatest country in the world" -- the United States -- and dispatch their leading journalist, Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen), to go to America, gather pertinent information, and return with a full report.

For anyone not in on the joke, Borat is the alter ego of 34-year-old comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, who created the character for his television series, "Da Ali G. Show". The sole purpose of the show is to introduce Cohen's outrageous characters into real-life situations and document the ensuing pandemonium for the audience's amusement. This movie doesn't stray from that premise.

It begins with Borat introducing us to his family and friends in Kazakhstan. In a rundown shack, we meet his obese Jabba-the-Hut wife, his sister the prostitute (whom he French kisses), and lots of other colorful characters. Leaving to come to the states, he tells the town rapist, "Not too much raping now! Humans only!" And oh yes, we also see the "Running of the Jews," an annual event whereby "Mr. and Mrs. Jew," decked out in large papier-mach'e heads like you'd see at the Mardi Gras, are running in the streets with hoards of people fleeing around them.

And that's just the beginning.

Once in New York City, Borat's racist outlook and ignorance of Western culture clashes with everyone he meets. Oh yes, Borat makes all kinds of social faux pas. He pleasures himself in front of a lingerie store window, urinates in a lake, and defecates in the bushes next to a busy street while shocked onlookers pass by.

In his hotel room, he revels in cable TV and channel-surfs into the world of Baywatch beauty, Pamela Anderson, deciding then and there to make her his wife. So he convinces his small documentary crew, including rotund producer Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian), to travel to California to find the buxom babe – only driving instead of flying, "in case the Jews repeat their attack of 9/11."

He and Azamat head west, stopping to chat with various victims along the way. In Washington D.C., he calls politician Alan Keyes a "chocolate face." In Virginia, he tells a rodeo crowd that the Kazakhstanians "support your war of terror," and explains to a rancher that "they hang homosexuals in my country." Then he invites a prostitute to a fancy southern dinner party and calls a pastor's wife ugly.

Borat has similar encounters with feminists, gays, Christians, Jews, frat boys, cowboys, and just about every other subculture of America. No one is spared. And, though Borat and Azamat are acting, the other players in this movie are real people going about their lives. They think he's making a REAL documentary, which begs the question – is he or isn't he?

With his deadpan delivery, Borat is taken quite seriously by the people he meets, and while some try to be polite and educate him, others take a less tolerant approach to his racist, anti-semitic, and offensive shenanigans. This movie probably falls into that ubiquitous "mockumentary" category. It's real, but…it's not real.

However you feel about this movie, it's hard not to laugh at some scenes. The funniest, by far, doesn't resort to racist or anti-semitic themes. Borat emerges from the shower in a hotel room and finds his obese producer, uh, pleasuring himself to pictures of Pamela Anderson in a magazine. Outraged, Borat jumps on him, and the two smash around the room (and at one point, get into some interesting positions on the bed). Then they race stark naked down the hotel hallway and into the annual Mortgage Broker's Banquet, where they're finally subdued by hotel security. It's a scene that holds nothing back.

Director Larry Charles, who spoke at the Traverse City premiere, calls "Borat" an "outlaw film." "We'd go in, we'd shoot, and we'd escape," he joked. "We had a criminal attorney on retainer the entire time we were filming. There were numerous occasions where the police detained us – at least once a day."

Funny, offensive, controversial, smart, idiotic…too soon to tell how the American public will take this movie. But one thing is for sure. This is definitely a no-holds-barred movie that will have you thinking long after the credits roll.

Jane's Reel Rating System:
One Reel: Pathetic. Even The Force can’t save it.
Two Reels: Tolerable. Coulda been a contender.
Three Reels: Thought-provoking. Something to talk about.
Four Reels: Wow! The stuff dreams are made of.