Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is one of the best hyped and most highly anticipated movies of the fall. Some expect this film to have a huge take in this weekend’s box office, while others think it will be this fall’s version of Snakes on a Plane.
Sacha Baron Cohen, modern day Peter Sellers and Da Ali G Show mastermind, stars as Borat Sagdiyev, who travels across America on a quest to marry his one true love, the virginal Pamela Anderson. The film seamlessly blends scripted exchanges between Borat and his traveling partner, Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian) with the kind of obviously and painfully funny unscripted moments that made the Borat character so famous. A choreographed nude fistfight between Borat and Bagatov erupts in a hotel room and continues awkwardly for minutes; then, it spills out into the hallway and elevator of their hotel and into a convention of accountants. Not scripted. Some scenes leave the audience full of “is this real?” comedic wonderment, such as when Borat drives around with a bear in an ice cream truck, or when he finally meets his beloved Pamela and proposes marriage in the “traditional” Kazak way.
The movie is spectacular if you like lewd humor and Middle Americans unknowingly embarrassing themselves in front of the nation amid a wild accusation that the ninth-largest country in the world is stuck a hundred years in the past — a weird hybrid of Colonial America and every joke about Alabama anyone’s ever told.
In his concoction of a ludicrous Kazak tradition, the Running of the Jew, Baron Cohen certainly aims to push the envelope. He strikes up an odd mix of ignorance and enlightenment, allowing us to laugh at the individuals who marvel at his (fake) accent and comment about how quaint and uncivilized he is, while also needling us — the “intelligent” audience — in our murky belief that the Kazak people — formerly part of the Soviet superpower — ride around in horse-drawn compact cars from the mid- ’90s. We wouldn’t laugh if we thought it was true, but we also wouldn’t laugh if we knew it was false.
Borat is not meant to offend, nor is it meant to educate, save for educating Americans on how closed-minded we can be. The only stereotype the film perpetuates is that we are dumb and only care about ourselves. If you can get past that — and if you can’t you should be pitied — Borat is a wild, enjoyable film that allows you to turn your brain off and just laugh.