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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Borat: Is nice
Wednesday 08 November @ 12:20:27 |
 by ERIK MCCLANAHAN
Legendary comedian George Carlin once said, “I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.” I couldn’t agree more. Comedians should always be trying to take the next step forward. Reinvention of what we find funny may be the most difficult thing to achieve in the movies. It’s a toss-up between that or actually scaring an audience. But when one sees something truly original and hilarious, one must tip their hat and proclaim said comedian a genius.
 “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (a ridiculously long, but all too appropriate, title that is only one word short of being the longest titled film of all time, Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove”) is a milestone in the annals of film comedy. Sacha Baron Cohen (who created and stars as Borat) has taken what we consider funny, offensive, repulsive, sacred, ridiculous and embarrassing about our culture, thrown it into a blender, flipped the on switch and spewed out a completely original comedy the likes of which America has never seen.
Christian Bale’s character in the recent Christopher Nolan film, “The Prestige,” makes a poignant statement: “A real magician tries to invent something new, that other magicians are going to scratch their heads over.” The relevancy of this statement struck a chord with me when I saw that wonderful film a few weeks ago, but after seeing “Borat” I couldn’t help but be astounded by the way it describes the work of a true comedian. Cohen has successfully invented something new: a new genre, a satire, a fake documentary and pure comedic entertainment all rolled up into one side-splitting, 84-minute ride.
Following the format established on Cohen’s “Da Ali G Show,” where Borat first appeared as a Kazakhstani journalist conducting interviews, Borat is dispatched by the government to make a documentary about America to help his country. In all the interviews that Borat conducts in the show, he always manages to get people to admit, consciously or not, their prejudices and bigotry toward things in American culture. The film is no different, except that Cohen and director Larry Charles (who has directed numerous episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” along with writing for “Seinfeld” and “Entourage”) have crafted a narrative that fits perfectly with the character, avoiding the pitfall of simply stringing together random interviews, much like the show.
The film opens with fake Kazakhstani television production credits, and then a terrific prologue in which Borat shows us his village, its people and his one-room house (complete with VCR, cassette player and a live bull). The opening lines from “Borat” immediately garner huge laughs: “Jagshemash! My name Borat. I like you. I like sex. Is nice!” Borat’s American odyssey begins, and we see him working with his producer Azamat (actor Ken Davitian) to make their documentary. It’s difficult to tell how much of the action is staged and how much real, but that’s one of the film’s joys. All of the interviews appear to be real, in which the unsuspecting interviewees (everyone from a fine dining teacher to a rodeo director) patiently deal with Borat’s cultural differences and misunderstandings (to which one of the fine dining women says, “I think he can be Americanized in no time”).
Every scene in “Borat” is hilarious. There’s never a point in the film where Cohen’s shtick wears thin. Instead, the film becomes increasingly ridiculous and funny. Once in New York, Borat accidentally releases a rooster on the subway, angers a comedy coach, really angers a group of feminists, and chases people around the city simply trying to introduce himself (in a sequence that parodies “Midnight Cowboy,” complete with Harry Nilsson singing “Everybody’s Talking”). Then Borat discovers the show “Baywatch” and is changed forever. He instantly falls in love with Pamela Anderson and vows to marry her, taking to the road to find her in California.
The intelligence of the material is on display throughout the film. We are shown people who proudly display their bigotry on their sleeve, and reveal things to the camera that most wouldn’t tell their mothers. Most of this is because Cohen plays his character so convincingly. On the surface, the film appears to be racist in nature, but Cohen trusts in his audience to know that this is pure satire, especially when you consider that he is in fact Jewish (most of the humor in the film is anti-Semitic). This is smart and vulgar humor designed to show us real prejudices exist, much like Mel Brooks did with “The Producers” and “Blazing Saddles,” and like Trey Parker and Matt Stone did with their “South Park” movie and “Team America: World Police.”
Cohen himself is a bit of an enigma. He rarely does interviews or public appearances out of character. It is truly amazing how he manages to stay in character throughout the film without so much as breaking a smile. He is a gifted and intelligent comedic actor. “Borat” is the most fun I’ve had at the theater in quite some time. ||
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