Borat

Does anyone remember Dr. Katz from Comedy Central? The cartoon with the fidgety animation where the main character was a Hollywood psychologist? I only bring this up in reference to Borat because of a certain exchange at the end of one Dr. Katz episode. The good doctor was at a bar with some of his friends, and one person said, "High fructose corn syrup", pronouncing it FRUCK-tose. Everyone tried to correct him, but he stood his ground on his pronunciation—whereupon someone asked him, "Okay, and do you say 'go foock yourself'?" I was a freshman in college at the time, and upon hearing this exchange, my roommate and I looked at each other in surprise, both of us wondering, "Um, can they do that???"

That was exactly what I kept asking myself while watching Borat for the first time, because while laughing at a particular scene, I was simultaneously in shock that the central character had actually done what I saw him do on screen.

Borat is apparently an offshoot of Sacha Baron Cohen's Da Ali G Show, with Borat being one of his characters. We first meet our hero in his native village in Kazakhstan, where he happily introduces us to all of his friends and family. Let me say this much before moving on: when he passionately kisses a woman and then proudly proclaims, "This is my sister!", I knew it was going to be all downhill from there. But along with his producer Azamat, Borat makes a journey to America for what is supposed to be a media correspondence piece for Kazakhstan—but as soon as Pamela Anderson enters the fray, things change for our hero.

Opening up in New York to the strains of "Everybody's Talkin'", a big send-up to the opening of Midnight Cowboy (itself another fish-out-of-water tale), Borat has his first encounter with Americans . . . only they're not so open to his friendly ways—in particular his desire to kiss everyone he meets on the cheek. The general reactions from people are downright hysterical, because you know that Borat's just trying to be friendly in his own way, but you know precisely how badly people are going to react to his ways, especially in a town like New York.

Seeing American culture up against Borat's allows us to see American culture from outside the box—and in the process, offers some social commentary, but it's ever so slight. Even so, with Borat coming from a culture that's obviously far less taboo than ours, the cultural differences provide the most shock value for first-time viewers. In fact, my one big concern when watching Borat for the first time was whether or not the film would hold up on subsequent viewings—i.e., if viewers would still feel shocked, uncomfortable, amazed, or as fresh with the material as they did the first time. Let it be known that I did this review after two viewings of Borat, and on second viewing, even though I knew what to expect most of the time, the material was still able to elicit a reaction from me, as though it were as fresh as the first viewing.

If I said Borat isn't a film for everyone, I'd be making the understatement of the year!!! (Remind me again how many people are suing Sacha Baron Cohen right now?) IGN sure liked the movie, though, going so far as to liken Cohen to Will Ferrell—though there's no way in hell Will Ferrell could have pulled off a role like this! As for me, I have a pretty high threshold for what kind of humor offends me. If this tells you anything, a day without toilet humor is a day without sunshine in my book. But having said that, Borat pushed even my limits, which is almost scary. All the same, though, I still found several scenes rather funny.

I think my favorite scene is when Borat is chasing the chicken through the subway car, or when he stops at the yard sale and keeps calling the lady a gypsy, or when he's driving that ice cream truck with the bear across country—and I have to say, the driving instructor early in the film was a pretty good sport! Borat's interview with the feminist group wasn't nearly as disastrous as I thought it would be, but that was more than made up for at the Confederate antique store and Georgia dinner party later! And my friend Colby made a very good point: it's downright amazing that Borat made it out of that rodeo alive!

I really have to give kudos to Cohen for integrating into American culture as brazenly as he did, and not once breaking character—not to mention having the balls to knowingly put himself in harm's way by being so generally offensive. I'll admit, there are a few scenes that made me uncomfortable, like the "running of the Jew" at the beginning of the film, or the Georgia dinner scene. And I'd like to know just how Sacha Baron Cohen got up the cajones to film the "wrestling" scene in his hotel. The Christian revival scene was a tad predictable, but it nevertheless worked in the context of the story. And I'm curious to know just how often Pamela Anderson does come across nutty fans like Borat. (Though when he finally meets her, there's no way that Borat could have bundled her up like he did. Security would have been all over him in a second.)

I honestly don't know how to rate a film like Borat, but after two viewings, I think I'll give it a 7.5—along with a declaration that Sacha Baron Cohen has raised the bar for shock humor more than I ever thought possible! Because with Borat, he's essentially made this generation's Blazing Saddles.