The Satire of "Borat" Gets "High Five"

by Jack Douglass

The most thought-provoking and talked-about film of the year isn’t a star-studed drama. Nor is it a high-budget action flick or blockbuster. It’s far from a feel-good, heartwarming family movie.

It’s a comedy about a reporter from Kazakhstan who is trying to marry Pamela Anderson.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan enjoyed two weeks as the nation’s number one movie. Directed by Larry Charles, the film follows a journalist named Borat (famous only in his native country Kazakhstan) who comes to America in search of a good story. But how exactly did this movie sell? How could a comedy do so well when its main character begins the film with the line: “I like you. I like sex!?"

Borat is more than a funny movie. Yes, Sacha Baron Cohen entertains the audience with his often-imitated-never-duplicated character who fumbles with the American language and makes known his hatred of the Jewish population. But Borat’s shocking behavior serves as the film’s basis. The whole thing is shot as a documentary of sorts; I would call it a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary, except most of Borat’s interviews are with real people with real jobs. In fact, the majority of the film can be summed up in a single gag: Borat approaches a total stranger and turns an everyday situation into something vulgar and obscene. While at a car dealership, he asks a salesperson how fast he would have to drive an SUV to kill a Jewish person.

So why does he do this? He pushes people’s buttons to gauge their reactions. He knows that, with enough crazy antics of his (as some may call them), he exposes the true American to the cameras. The results can be very revealing: an old man at a Texas rodeo tells Borat how to rid the country of all its homosexuals, while college students drunkenly make sexist remarks when Borat confesses his love for Pamela Anderson. What is it, then, that triggers these reactions? One argument is that people believe they are safe when conversing with someone from a completely different culture and can therefore discuss freely without restraint or fear of stereotypes. That is how Borat speaks; in one scene where he visits a “joke coach,” he discusses making jokes about retarded people and then tells a hilarious story about his own retarded brother “Bilo.”

Cohen knows that too many Americans have irrational stereotypes lodged in their minds about some groups of people. What makes the movie so great is that he exploits this knowledge through his own character, who makes fun of some people’s ignorance. For example, during a feminist meeting he laughs to himself when one of the members states that the size of a female’s brain is equal to that of a male’s. Of course the women present are immediately offended and soon leave, but his point has already been made. Cohen believes that stereotypes we may have about religion, sexuality, or any other subject make about as much sense as believing that the Jewish population consists of “shape-shifters” (he mistakes a pair of cockroaches for an elderly Jewish couple, and his solution involves throwing money at them until they leave).

Even if people fail to see this level of satire, the film has plenty of shock value and fully deserves its “R” rating. I had a hard time choosing which film I thought was funnier: Borat or Jackass 2. Both films had me doubled over laughing for surprisingly similar reasons. When Cohen isn’t hilarious verbally, he more than makes up for it in physical comedy. The film’s most famous and discussed scene by far has to be the naked wrestling match between Borat and his traveling producer that carries from their hotel room to a formal presentation on the main floor. You have to admire the actor for having the courage to do what he does. In fact, thanks to some research on IMDb, I’ve learned that the police were called on Cohen 91 times during shooting, and I can honestly say I believe it. Shock humor aside, the music is also perfect – stay during the ending credits to hear the amazingly bizarre anthem of Kazakhstan.

The one negative aspect that my friends and I agreed on was that the film focused a bit too much on the “Borat-chasing-Pamela” plot. If it had solely been about Cohen interviewing different people from across the country, I feel like I would have enjoyed it more. The ending, however, is a nice payoff, as he makes his boldest move yet and attempts to kidnap Pamela for his wife. Again, his fictional marriage customs serve to satirize America’s ignorance of other cultures and our own stereotypes.

Is Borat worth seeing? I would have to say "yes," but be warned: if you aren’t too offended, if you find the brilliance of what Cohen is doing, you will laugh until it hurts.

I give it: (That's four out of five Borats.)

(The short trailer for Borat from 20th Century Fox is below.)



(For more on Borat, please see: "Borat:" The Aftermath.)

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