The full name of the movie is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. In reality, this movie will not benefit Kazakhstan or any other nation for that matter.
Sasha Baron Cohen plays Borat Sagdiyev, a journalist from Kazakhstan who has been sent to New York City to make a documentary about America. One night in his hotel room he starts watching Baywatch and falls in love with Pamela Anderson, sparking a cross-country trip to find her and make her his wife.
Is the movie offensive? Absolutely, but so many movies are, and I don’t think anyone walks into this film expecting anything less. However even if you manage to not be offended, you have to admit it’s a very cruel movie. I left the theater feeling really disgusting and genuinely sad for some of the people who had been duped. Admittedly, Cohen has a gift for making complete strangers feel completely comfortable revealing their hidden (or perhaps not so hidden) prejudices on camera. Is it really so shocking that these people exist in America…or any country for that matter? But the people I really feel sorry for are the ones that were just genuinely expressing who they were, and with kindness towards “Borat,” but found out on Nov. 3rd that they were completely deceived.
The real mystery to me is why so many critics are claiming this film is intelligent humor! I don’t believe it revealed anything about our country and only further promoted ignorance. This was proven when upon exiting the theater I overheard a group of teenagers acting out and laughing at “the running of the Jew” joke. I’m not saying other movies that teenagers flock too do not promote similarly bad trends, but at least the critics aren’t heralding those movies as genius entertainment. And all political and racial humor aside, this movie was obsessed with both nudity in its grossest form and bathroom humor to the extreme. If we’re calling this stuff smart humor now, then Jackass might be nominated for an Oscar.
Well Borat makes it to California and meets Pamela Anderson in a very amusing scene that was so obviously staged it made you wonder what else the movie staged. For the record there were quite a few scenes that I believe had to be staged and a few others that I hope were staged. After a little research, I did find THIS ARTICLE, which proves at least a few unsuspecting people where tricked. I have to agree with the last paragraph of that article because I predict this movie will make a killing at the box office and money tends to bring litigation. Welcome to America Borat.
I am not saying that I didn’t laugh at all during this movie or find at least some of Cohen’s antics amusing. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to know when to let a joke end, and always had to push everything uncomfortably far. I give it 2 out of 5
By Tina Alexander
