What can be said about this comedy that has not already been said, blogged, written, commented upon, spat up, or spit out?
Well, it is a funny movie.
Pause.
Not.
It’s a very funny movie.
It’s downright hysterical. It’s painful, it’s revealing, it’s progressive, and it’s about us, as Americans. For the 2 ½ of you not yet in on the joke, Borat Sagdiyev is a Kazakhi journalist visiting the United States under the sponsorship of his government to make a documentary about life in America. But he’s not. Borat is British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen’s crass and revealing character who visits the United States under the sponsorship of his producers to reveal an underbelly of America. It’s an underbelly that’s a bit dark, a bit dim, a bit backward, a lot sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist, and a lot about us.
Yes, I’m repeating myself, but there’s a reason. Behind the sight gags, the numerous gags, the naked wrestling, the lack of decorum, the flagrant insults, the subtle digs, there’s a fresh approach to not only comedy, but culture. Americans are comfortable revealing ourselves, shedding our layers, when we’re around similar people. When we feel we will be accurately represented, or when we feel we have something to reveal to others.
This is often the case when it comes to other cultures, particularly those from the less developed world. Cohen mines deeply into this American vein, generating amazing comments from the likes of regular folks at a rodeo, folks offended by the gay community, and lustful for bloody victory in Iraq. He goes further during a painfully funny scene in a moving RV with 3 members of a University of South Carolina fraternity, drunk as skunk frat boys who lay down racist and sexist lines as though they were practiced. And perhaps they were.
Think this isn’t funny? Inject an inquisitive, curious, and outlandish prankster into this mix, and you’re off to the races. Or off on a cross country tour of America in an antiquated ice cream truck. See it, you’ll understand.
December 2006
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