The work of a real improvisational genius - try this on Will Ferrell!

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2010)

I loved Da Ali G Show, bought him Indahouse and own a couple of Ali G Show DVDs, one of which heavily features Borat in several hilarious bits, so why the change of heart? I'm not sure, but when pressed (by myself) I admit that I enjoy the concept more than the films, and I felt uncomfortable knowing that Sacha Baron Cohen was manipulating what were often good and innocent people so that they would feel themselves uncomfortable and unsure of themselves.
Yes it showed that Americans are often critical, unthinking and hypocritical idiots, but surely by now that is shooting fish in a barrel.
So since checking it out the first time I never bothered with it again.
I certainly admire Sacha Baron Cohen, in any of his Ali G Show incantations he never varied from character and directed the chats back to where he wanted them to go regardless of the interviewee's intent, but when things did go astray his ability to work and ad-lib on the fly was nothing less than incredible. Even in Borat guise, he apparently remained in character at all times to keep sharp and was so focused on keeping things authentic that he never washed the Borat suit, and those that have seen the film know that there is only one outfit that he wears in what must have been a multiple week shoot.
The Borat plot is irrelevant, a Kazakhstani reporter goes to the United States with the intent of making a documentary on US customs, only he gets sidetracked by an episode of Baywatch and decides his new goal is to marry Pamela Anderson, (if he had chosen Paris Hilton it would have been a fait accompli). The laughs come from both Borat's view of society, gender relations and his lack of political correctness (all of which p*ssed off the Kazakh people who rightfully thought that the less intelligent viewer might swallow the shtick lock, stock and barrel), and from the reactions of the unwitting Americans who feel they are being interviewed by a clueless hack and open up to their true attitudes.
There are a million quotables in the film, most of them involving the society taboos of incest, rape and bestiality, among others. Again this elicits the shock response from well meaning people, but more disturbingly it signals to those with less than pure thoughts to go nuts and espouse their own ridiculous ideas. An example comes where Borat asks a car dealer how fast a car needs to go to kill Jews, and the dealer calmly gives not only a blank stare, but a thought out answer! I think realistically if anyone takes offense at what Borat says, they shouldn't be watching the film in the first place, or they at least didn't see the preview. It is the responses that should trouble society, as so many interviewees casually toss out racist and homophobic comments with precious little prompting, only because they thought it would never be seen.
Borat has been criticised for being largely set up, and the scene with Pamela Anderson is clearly a set up. The scenes involving the rodeo organiser, the car dealer, driving instructor and Idiot college kids must embarrass the participants and anyone ever associated with them. The College kids in particular earn the right to be publicly shamed, (thanks to Anthony, Justin and David's parents!) I won't go into any other scenes here, the movie is only 80 minutes and watching it is almost as quick as reading this. In essence I feel the charm of Borat is that he is largely ego-less and ignorant, his apparent innocence is endearing to those he comes across, so their attempts to help are endearing, which is why I feel awkward watching them get screwed over.
Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. Extra points for being the first and going the furthest. Now we'll see post-Bruno how far other less talented and less inspired filmmakers go, because gross outs for gross out's sake lead to American Pie clones.
If you liked this (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com