"Borat" (20th Century Fox)
The Joke Is On Us
The new film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” stars Sacha Baron Cohen as a traveling TV reporter for a station in the Asian country of Kazakhstan. As he travels through the United States he happens upon everything that is the worst about our country, and that is what makes up the humor of the film. Since Americans are the butt of the jokes, and since Americans are the audience watching it, then horribly the joke is on us!
Borat never sees a better side of America. He only sees the racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, elitist aspects. And as an outsider he always sees the people he encounters through a narrow perspective. Borat (Cohen) is in on the joke; the people he meets and interviews aren’t. So while they are sincerely being rude, crude or whatever he is encouraging their extremism. Then he gets the chance to laugh at them with the audience.
It is difficult to watch the movie without flinching or turning your head away from the screen. You feel so sorry for the poor people who stumbled into Borat’s path. Of course the fact that he is playing a joke on them does not excuse their crudeness or their ugly American attitude. But they are being filmed being themselves while Borat is only a character Cohen is playing and that does make a difference.
If you want to see a movie that showcases everything that is bad about our country then this is the movie for you. It makes fun of the religious, the hospitable, the celebrity (Pamela Anderson), and the everyday person. It holds a mirror up to the bigoted, the drunken, the political and many more.
“Borat” is rated R for profanity, sexual situations and nudity.
It just seems odd that a movie that paints the worst possible picture of our country should be the number one film at the box office. Even stranger is the fact most people will not recognize their shortcomings but will be laughing at those fools and idiots on the screen.
Perhaps there are those who will learn from what is displayed in “Borat” but odds are most will just laugh at the extremism that is shown. “Borat” holds up a mirror to some of our worst traits but the reflection will go unheeded, and the message will be lost in laughter.
To me the film was not funny. It made me uncomfortable and a little queasy. I found it mean-spirited, hate-filled, and depressing. But those around me were howling with laughter. Go figure!
I scored “Borat” a lost in translation 3 out of 10.
