borat

AC/AL 2006 82m Eng 18m
N/V

CAST: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell & Pamela Anderson

CREDITS: Director: Larry Charles; Screenwriters: Sacha Baron Cohen/Anthony Hines/Peter Baynham/Dan Mazer; Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen/Jay Roach; Directors of Photography: Luke Geissbuhler/Anthony Hardwicke; Editors: Craig Alpert/Peter Teschner/James Thomas; Costume Designer: Jason Alper; Music: Erran Baron Cohen

THE SYNOPSIS

Borat Sagdiyev (Cohen) is an amiable, if crass TV reporter from Kazakhstan. He and his rotund producer, Azamat (Davitian), have been sent to the US of A to report on our culture. In New York, after annoying many New Yorkers, Borat sees an episode of Baywatch and falls in love with Pamela Anderson.

His new mission is to get to California so that he may marry her and have sex too. So off he and Azamat go, across our great country--learning our traditions, ideologies and language. Along the way, he manages to make friends and enemies...simply by being the “crude foreigner” who’s own ideologies are stuck in the 16th century!

Once they make it to California, Borat does meet the woman of his dreams...and tries to envelope her in a Kazakhstani marriage sack! Naturally she pummels him and he’s sent packing! Back in Kazakhstan, Borat concludes that we live in a great if bizarre nation.

THE CRITIQUE

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN (and that’s the only time that I’ll refer to the movie title in its entirety) is a bizarre yet hilarious commentary on our society and those who we look at as foreign.

Borat (the character & movie) is the brainchild of comedic British actor Sasha Baron Cohen--a very popular performer across the pond in England, as well appearing on his very own show (Da Ali G Show) on HBO here in the States. For those not in the know, Borat was a regular character on the TV show.

The script (by Cohen and a bunch of other guys) is purposefully-outlandish and anti-PC while maintaining a somewhat endearing quality for its enthusiastic yet ignorant foreign character. And that’s the rub, folks: we (as Americans) look at foreigners as ignorant of our culture--yet we become the ignorant foreigner once we leave the haven of our own country/society/collective id/etc.

As the character Borat, Cohen digs deep and comes up with a character that reminds me of a cross between Steve Martin’s “Wild & Crazy Guy,” Pee Wee Herman, Daffy Duck and the generic moustache guy from any porno flick made in the 1970’s (you know the type I’m talking about, peeverts)!

Alternatingly crass & endearing; both randy & dandy, Cohen’s Borat says it like it is (or at least the way he sees it)--and there’s an honesty in that. Just like a 9-year old kid who speaks their mind--untainted by hypocrisy and PC-based mannerisms. More people should be straight-up...we’d probably have less problems in this crazy world!

And Cohen gets points for leaving no stone unturned nor anybody unscathed. A perfect example is the satirical anti-Semitism that runs rampant like a viral plague throughout the picture--and remember, Cohen himself is a Jew! So watch out! No one is safe from Boratzilla!

I must also add that American-born actor Ken Davitian does a bang-up job playing Borat’s TV producer Azamat. Though both characters hail from Kazakhstan, the actors conversed in a dialogue that combined Hebrew, Yiddish & Russian-laced accents. And Pamela Anderson gamely appears as herself, going along with the gag.

Though budgeted at about $18,000,000--probably for Borat’s & Azamat’s body hair props, BORAT maintains a low-budget, cinéma vérité approach that would assuredly be more at home on the TV screen. Directed by TV veteran Larry Charles (helmer of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and a purveyor of TV’s Seinfeld), one gets that small-screen feel viewing this mockumentary--save for the foul language and gratuitous shots of hairy genitalia (male) and hairy derriers (again, male).

Shot on DV and slapped onto 35mm film, the movie was lensed by TV cinematographers Luke Geissbuhler & Anthony Hardwick (I’d list some of their credits, but they weren’t anything that even I was familiar with). Again, the video format works well in this case--as it add some “reality” to the proceedings.

Other tech credits (editing, production design, score, etc.) are purposefully-tacky. Though bookending in Kazakhstan, those portions were actually shot in Romania. USofA locations include NYC, Virginia & California.

OK, I’ll say it: this movie was hilarious! While it won’t appeal to those with no heartbeat, the rest should be in on the joke. Borat, though crass, does us a favor by turning the looking-glass our way (meaning society) so that we may get some insight on our own social norms & mores, prejudices and values.

Sometimes it takes comedy & satire to spell things out the way they really are...and it can be both heartfelt & scary.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Funny, relevant, silly, honest, misogynistic...I could go on and on. But Borat has already done the preaching for me. Somewhere between hairy naked men, sexy Pamela Anderson and mangled English slang, the truth lies.