The Hype Was Real, This Film Will Be Legendary

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2006)

Combining a fictional man (Borat) with factual events, this film shows America to Americans from an outsider's perspective. Sadly, what we find is distressing in the modern era. A country full of people with biases and prejudice, or as my friend put it, "Borat made fun of all the things that people think matter, and actually really, really don't." Sacha Baron Cohen continued the "Candid Camera" pranks he was pulling on "Da Ali G Show", only stepping up the offensiveness to a whole new level. While this will scare off certain people (jokes about Jews, blacks and 9/11 aren't always well-received), those who are mature enough to understand the context will appreciate the presentation.
Borat comes from a world that fears Jews (with their "horns" and endless greed) and the audience is left to think he is very backwards and a relic of unenlightened days. But by touring America -- and the scenes are all real people, not scripts -- we see that people still hate people for superficial reasons. Religion, orientation, class, gender and race are all held as the keys to what a good person should be. But these are those things that Americans think matter, but don't.
The humor is not just a decloaking of America. There's also some fun "Baywatch" and Pamela Anderson references, and a lengthy scene of male nudity that is both hysterical and revolting (but in my opinion the hysterical far outweighs the revolting). Another scene of male nudity is perhaps even more shocking from the themes it implies. I cannot really say more here without ruining the jokes.
The "great films" each year are dramas or documentaries. Rarely do comedies get remembered as being "great" critically. But this one might have broken a barrier we haven't seen in almost forever. "Borat" is not only endlessly funny (the hardest I ever laughed in a theater) but timelessly important.