Borat Great Success!

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2006)

"Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" Brian Murphy-Evanston RoundTable. Sacha Baron Cohen, the London-born, Cambridge--educated comedian responsible for the brazenly funny "Da Ali G Show," has made a career embodying clueless characters. His trio of journalist incarnations, including hip-hop wannabe Ali G, flamboyantly gay fashion correspondent Bruno, and naïve, Kazak reporter Borat Sagdiyev, through their shockingly candid questions and bizarre behavior, rile the tempers and wrest the unholy truths from their unwitting subjects. With "Borat!..," Cohen has created the funniest, creatively offensive film of the year, and the most intelligent "dumb" film since "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut." The film blends the line between reality and fiction, documentary and scripted action. While Cohen's guerilla-style interviews remain intact, they are weaved together by a fictional story involving the Kazak government sending Borat and his television producer, Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davatian) on a trip to the United States to learn from the superpower.
Kazakhstan is presented in the film as a depressed, backwards country, which led to calls for boycotts from its citizens and the government. After watching the first five minutes of the film, it is easy to see why the moderate, western-leaning country had issues with Cohen's characterizations.
We are first introduced to Borat in his small village, preparing to depart for America. He speaks with affection concerning his town while pointing out its problems. Along the way, we meet his sneering neighbor, mother, ill-tempered wife, and after the two engage in a deep kiss, his sister. He introduces us to local Kazak ceremonies, such as "The Running of the Jew 2004" (an event fabricated by the Jewish Cohen for satirical purposes), which is as funny as it is intentionally offensive.
The film takes off when Borat and Azamat reach America, traveling the country in an ice cream truck, a live bear riding shotgun (seriously), seeking advice from true Americans on their way to Los Angeles. Borat, having fallen in love with Pamela Anderson after seeing an episode of "Baywatch" in his hotel room, hopes to marry the star and bring her back to Kazakhstan.
Without giving away any of the gags, Borat terrorizes (with irony, not WMD's, mind you) a humor coach, a driving instructor, rodeo attendants, elitist guests at a dinner party, mortgage brokers at a hotel conference, security guards, and pretty much any one he tries to greet by giving a kiss on the cheek. Inconceivably, Pamela Anderson makes an uncredited cameo at the film's end, and whether the conclusion was real or staged remains to be seen (I vote for the latter).
Despite his sexism, bigotry and anti-Semitism, when put up against Americans who are not in on the joke, Borat miraculously escapes as a sympathetic character. His ignorance is played by Cohen as an almost childlike innocence, and his joyful exuberance is infectious. Furthermore, we realize Borat's idiocy is an act. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the disturbing array of homophobic southerners, racist Americans and misogynistic frat boys he meets along the way.
Doubters of Cohen's relevance can look to Cannes, among the dozens of other prestigious film festivals, who have championed the film at first screening. Doubters of Cohen's talents and/or dedication to his craft can look to his talk show promotions and film screenings, both of which Cohen has refused to attend other than in full-on Borat method mode. He is like Andy Kaufman with a punch line. And, much like the legendary comedian, he refuses to pull punches, infuriating those he involves for our amusement.