Insular concept

Rating: 4/10 (18 December 2008)

Borat is a Kazakh. Kazakhstan is a huge land mass east of the British Channel. Kazakhs are like cossacks in ancient times: Backward. Stupid. Violent. And morally corrupt to the bone - if not entirely void of any morals. It's altogether different from the Insular Culture that developed in England and spread from there to some other parts of the world, e. g. the U S of A - a beacon of hope which dazzles the less fortunate peoples of this earth. Borat goes to the US of A with every immigrant's dream: to learn the way how to get rich. His plans and aims are hazy, his determination pretty fierce.
Once arrived, Borat holds up a mirror in front of the US of A's face. For some reason he has to daub that mirror with fresh feces every morning. I did not really understand why this was necessary  but wait, of course: this movie wants to SHOCK! For that reason it takes recourse of some of the oldest, stalest and unfunnyest juvenile practical jokes there are. And this sinks the movie to the depths of low grade crap  and makes it a commercial success.
The main message of this movie is: if you're surprised, you're dumb. While there is some validity to that statement, it does not add value to a work of art. It is just not entertaining to listen to a guy say I was in construction, now I am retired", and Borat react, aha, you are a retard"  and going on and on about it for minutes, like this is something really, really funny. He gets so lost in all those rather disorganized and ill paced pranks that there isn't a true conclusion to this movie, except that it's individual contacts that count (important, but treated as a side effect here).
It's interesting that most of the Americans who come into contact with Borat acquit themselves quite well. Americans, so it seems, are not easily dazed  especially when they want to sell something (a car, a gun, lessons in courtesy) they are quite willing to swallow a healthy dose of pranks and verbal abuse with amazing patience.
I am a Kazakh myself and I am aware that the message of this movie is mainly directed at people who are firmly embedded in the Insular Culture. But out here we watch it all the same, because we so much admire (and ape) pretty much everything that reaches us from the West. The style I so much criticized before has the effect that the satirical bullets ricochet and leave neither wound nor impact.