Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Review

The original 82 minute theatrical version of Borat was rude, crude, full of sophmoric and scatological humor, not for the easily offended.  On the surface it's a elaborate Candid Camera/ Punk'd gimmick film.   But there's much much more to this.

Borat is a satire on America, particularly America's attitude that it is not only the best, but welcomes immigrants and believes in justice for all.

If you are familiar with Sacha Baron Cohen's HBO show-- Da Ali G Show, you know what you are in for.  In fact the character of Borat was developed on the cable program.   If you don't know the show,  Cohen is a fearless character comic who is very much like an Andy Kauffman or Albert Brooks.  He has created a fully thought out character in Borat Sagdiyev, the thin, passionately naive, bigoted, wire-haired journalist from Kazakhstan who is passionately enamored with American culture, while remaining loyal and true to his country. The character comes to America to do a documentary called: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The character is not just a ‘fish out of water ' but a character that aggressively pursues Americans and puts himself in situations that could prove not just embarrassing but extremely dangerous.

Cohen's character feels pretty authentic but suddenly he will act in a completely outrageous and politically incorrect manner.   The timing could not be better. A few years ago too many people would wrap a cloak of family value indignation, but we're tired of being quiet, complacent and self-righteous.

Concept comedy is difficult to sustain and pull off for more than 10 or 15 minutes. Often it is too smart for the room and loses chunks of the audience. If it is done completely straight, audiences are not sure they can or SHOULD laugh at it (that's the problem Andy Kauffman and to a lesser extent Albert Brooks has had). You hedge your bets with it by creating sight gags, slapstick and dumb humor. You go toward farce, but you have to be careful about going too far or having humor that is too aggressive or it becomes grating, annoying and too loud.

If satire is part of it, then a large percentage of the audience needs to be familiar with what is being spoofed or the humor will be mis-understood and confusing. The character of Borat allows for the concept and satire to work. If your character remains interesting, doesn't wear out his or her welcome and doesn't feel too forced or phony, you get away with it. If the character is too cold, unpleasant, grating or loud, the audience will reject it. That's why what works for 5 or 10 minutes on a sketch comedy show like Saturday Night Live often doesn't translate to the big screen.

Borat is that rare concept comedy creation that works over a sustained period of time.

Borat is also a very smart, very sharp satire of America. No one will call the humor subtle, but the film is both over the top and slyly subversive. We get the ‘shock' sight gags. He passionately kisses a very pretty young woman and then introduces us to her as his sister, further explaining she is number 4 most popular prostitute in Kazakhstan, and she then holds up a trophy as proud proof if her accomplishment. A young girl seems to be driving a car, but the camera pulls back to reveal the car is being pulled by an large ox. Borat is completely unfamiliar with riding on escalators and he insists on kissing New City subway riders and nearly gets punched out for trying to do this. We are in on part of the joke and then there's a twist. Buster Keaton remains the master at this kind of humor, but Cohen and his writers have come up with several moments that work in the same way.

And at times, it feels natural and real, like we are watching a live television show where anything can happen. When Borat interviews the organizer of a rodeo, he gets him to say some of the most biased gay-bashing remarks you've heard uttered publicly in a long time. We laugh, then gasp at what is going on. Later, he talks to the packed rodeo audience about how Bush should drink the blood of every single man, woman, and child" in Iraq! This is cheered. But the cheering slowly turns into booing when Borat starts singing about how glorious his country is to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner.

Borat believes he has found the girl of his dreams when he discovers a picture of Pamela Anderson as C.J. in a ‘Baywatch' book. He figures out a way to go cross country to find her in Los Angeles. He continues to do his documentary, interviewing people as he makes his way across the country in a used Ice Cream Truck with his producer and a bear. Bear? Yes. No I won't explain, you MUST see the movie.

There's a scene in a Pentecostal television ministry Church, complete with a real life Supreme Court Judge and Senator blurring the separation of church and state where Borat succumbs to the energy and forces himself to speak in tongues.

There's a scene where Borat shows clips from Kazakhstan's annual Running of the Jew parade and later believes the Jewish owners of a bed and breakfast place are trying to kill him (‘they hide their horns well,' he says).

Director Larry Charles (of television's Seinfeld show) makes the film look like a cheap documentary shot on video that is being shown on an International public access station. Borat is constantly aware of the camera, often talking to it and us, occasional subtitles appear first in Borat's native language and then quickly covered up by crude English titles. The conceit feels absolutely right but if you think about it, it doesn't make much sense since the documentary is being made for Kazakhstan not the U.S. But it works... so. Who cares?

Borat allows us at first to laugh at the ‘dumb' foreigner from the backward country who thinks the elevator is his hotel room.   The Americans show little understanding and those that do display cultural tolerance do so in the most condescending way imaginable. It's funny, but telling.

There's a sharp edge to this supposedly politically incorrect humor. He comes from a poor country with Old World manners and beliefs-what excuse do the Americans have for their behavior? It dares to show how Mid and South-Western behavior/hospitality is just as backward as where Borat is from.


Cohen is British and Jewish and part Arab too.  He studied history at Cambridge. His cousin Simon is a professor of developmental psycho-pathology. He has made a career thus far of creating intentionally offensive characters that surprise and shock audiences. If you continue to watch, you realize the message is one of cultural or behavioral intolerance. The audience is not spared for we laugh both at and with the character of Borat and the ignorance of those who he encounters. The film subjects us to some of the most politically incorrect humor that has been on screens in years and it goes to place we expect and beyond it to where we are yelling uncle, uncle. Enough, enough.

The nude wrestling bit goes too far and many will be very uncomfortable with it...laughing, being grossed out, hoping it will end soon and move to another part of the film. 

The movie also creates a few moments of pathos and they are also satiric and almost work, which is a credit to how authentic Cohen makes Borat.

Some of the scenes were improvisational, but they were not done with hidden cameras, so everyone on camera should have been at least somewhat in on the joke.  The nuisance lawsuit were ridiculous and shameless and most quickly settled. 

Ultimately most will love the con-game Cohen plays with you and you'll be laughing, and groaning so much you won't care it's all a sham.

Borat is very funny. It is creatively dangerous, and a concept that is smart enough to quit just before it over stays its welcome. Leave them wanting more-and Cohen does.

Oh and pay attention-particularly to what is inside the refrigerator.

I liiiiike.

My 4 plus star rating I'm pushing up to a 5....   

Exciiiite.

DVD STUFF:

The DVD is presented in a widescreen 1.85: 1 anamorphic aspect ratio.  It  looked liked a cheap guerilla style foreign documentary in movies.. and looks exactly the same on DVD.  The Audio is clear and crisp availble in dolby digital 5.1 and the spanish Rusian, French and Hebrew is in dolby 2.0. 

Extras

There's no feature length commentary, but Fox does a neat thing I won't spoil with the actual packaging that I got a kick out of.

There is a collection of 8 deleted scenes that total about 25 minutes of material, some of which is just as funny as the movie itself... particularly two scenes when Borat is pulled over by cops and the goofy BayWatch parody.  

The other extra of note is 'Propaganda and has 17 minutes of snippets from when Cohen appeared in the character of Borat on talk shows and at premiers.   There's also some fun commercials and other things to discover.

Enjoy