Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
by Catherine Lee

      I started laughing at Sacha Baron Cohen’s comic identity Borat the first time I saw him. And as soon as I knew that the full title of the film he had made to bring this character to the people was Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan I laughed even more. In this hilarious, vulgar, always inappropriate movie, Cohen comes to America from Kazakhstan as Borat Sagdiyev. As he did as Ali G, the white hip-hop dude, Cohen interviews unsuspecting people, asking them absurd questions and making outrageous statements. He stays in character, plays it straight and wacky. He lets the camera soak up the funny as people trip over themselves making comments at least as ridiculous as what Cohen says to provoke them.

      I kept laughing as Cohen, always ferociously in character started showing up everywhere, including at the White House to deliver an invitation to our president, “George Walter Bush.” I laughed as he appeared on every talk show as Borat, making funny everywhere, his permed hair and moustache getting bigger and bigger.

      I laughed even more when the government of Kazakhstan, an ally of the United States, expressed outrage over the “moviefilm,” as Borat describes it. In Kazakhstan, there is no freedom of the press. The media is not allowed to criticize the president Nursaltan Nazarbayev, who has been given so much power he is considered “president for life.” I really laughed at the multi-page spreads the government of Kazakhstan purchased in the New York Times during president Nazarbayev’s visit this Summer to promote Kazakhstan. The television campaign to promote tourism in Kazakhstan is particularly hilarious. “Ever wander?” it asks. Well, not to Kazakhstan … not on purpose.

      Now that I’ve seen Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan I’m still laughing.  At many things. Not surprisingly, repressive governments and politicians don’t have much of a sense of humor. Yes, Kazakhstan is portrayed as one big rural slum. The movie begins there with Borat speaking to the camera about his home. He introduces us to the village rapist (“Naughty, naughty!”). A big blond whom he kisses quite aggressively turns out to be his sister (“fourth best prostitute in all of country”). He shows us the village tradition of the “running of the Jews.” But, oh my, how much of a clueless bully do you have to be to think this caricature would register as reality to anyone?

      Most of Borat takes place here in the United States, and the people who really look foolish as bigots, sexists, anti-Semites, humorless clods and dopes are the citizens of the good ol’ U.S. of A. From sea to shining sea, Borat encounters many people who don’t see through the goof. With little prompting, they stoop below the level of Borat. It never surprised me when Ali G could get pompous dopes like Donald Trump or Newt Gingrich to trip over their sense of self-importance. It is scarier to think that all these average folks will say such awful things with a camera pointed at them with such an obvious clown as Borat egging them on.

      Borat is relentlessly, continuously offensive, but because it is so obviously satire and is an equal opportunity offender there haven’t been many protests here at home. The anti-defamation folks have given Cohen a mild scolding. Since Cohen is Jewish his assertion that he is exposing bigotry and making fun of it seems to have been enough of an answer. I’d like to think that here in the United States, where we still cling to some freedoms of speech, we have enough of a sense of humor left to recognize satire when we see it.

      The only person other than Cohen in Borat credited as an actor is Ken Davitian who plays Borat’s producer and friend Azamat Bagatov. He is a very fat man tricked out in a suit and a moustache not quite as absurd as Borat’s. His size, appearance and stern expression are a funny counterpoint to Borat.

      Azamat is supposed to keep Borat on track, but while luxuriating in his hotel room in New York Borat sees a vision. Channel surfing, he sees Pamela Anderson in "Baywatch," and he falls in love. He forces Azamat to set out with him to find and marry Anderson. They begin a cross country journey in an ice cream truck.

      The idea of Pamela Anderson as the ultimate American dream is just perfect. I hoped for two things as soon as the journey began.  I hoped Borat would see the infamous Pam and Tommy video so many have seen because I knew the reaction would be hilarious.  He does. It is. And, knowing what a great sense of humor Anderson has, I hoped she would be in the movie. She is. She’s great.

      Along the way, Borat “punks” a humor coach, an etiquette advisor, a dinner party of very proper suburbanites, a rodeo of rednecks, a driving instructor, a camper full of drunk frat boys, a gun salesman, a hotel clerk and more. I wonder if there is anything on the cutting room floor where someone figured out that Borat was a fake or at least just got disgusted and walked away. I guess I’ll have to wait for the DVD. There are four screenwriters credited, and I’m not sure where their responsibilities began and ended. Just how they pulled all this off, I cannot quite deconstruct. But I don’t want to. It is more fun just to laugh.

      By far the most outrageous bit is the fight between Borat and Azamat. They are naked and wrestling, and it goes on and on. Some of the nasty bits are blacked out, but still it is approximately 450 pounds total of hairy nakedness.  The fight moves into the hotel lobby and into a convention of mortgage brokers.

      Borat is vulgar and absurd and smart and subversive. It is a pleasure to laugh so much at something that is stupid and smart at the same time.

Catherine Lee is the executive director of Fort Wayne Cinema Center, the only independently operated movie theater in Fort Wayne, specializing in independent, foreign, documentary, specialty and classic films.

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