Chaplin of Modern Times

Rating: 7/10 (6 November 2006)

I must say I'm a great fan of Borat, despite the fact that i came to see him only recently. I liked the Movie despite the fact that I expected myself to laugh all the time. Instead, some parts of it made me really sad- - i still think that he is a genius in terms of understating the nationalistic and ego-massaging nature of state propaganda ("all other potassium is inferior") in the Newly independent states. On the other side i liked how he plays around with the 'ingorance' of the west about the 'backwardness' of the east. What makes him funny is that he drags it to the extreme, yet being earnest but not brainwashed. Cohen tries to establish himself as a contemporary Chaplin and in many ways the parallelism between the characters is there: like both are Jewish comedians portraying a totally naive character and his adventures.The character has a very specific, almost idiotic body language. The only difference is that Chaplin was mute and black-and-white.