Movie Review - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America

I saw Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan last weekend and I still don't know what to make of it.

In case you are one of the few people in North America who has not heard of the Borat phenomenon, the movie is a mock documentary detailing the travels -- and travails -- of a fictional reporter from Central Asia. It is your standard "innocent abroad" story with one exception -- Borat is anything but innocent.

Borat Sagdiyev is a sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic moron. He believes women are fourth class citizens, after men, horses, and dogs. He thinks nothing of asking a gun shop owner which firearm is best for shooting Jews and readily believes that the Jewish owner of a bed-and-breakfast is trying to poison him when she brings him a sandwich. He is crude, rude, and lewd. He is also riotously funny.

The film is based on a character created by Sasha Baron Cohen for Da Ali G Show, a popular HBO series. Like Cohen's other two avatars -- Ali G, the proverbial "wanksta", and Bruno, the fashionista from Austrian Gay TV -- Borat employs the same technique to get laughs: make outrageous statements to unsuspecting people and see how they react.

I first became familiar with Borat when traveling in the United Kingdom, and I have to say he has always been my least favourite of Cohen's characters. I understand that he is trying to disempower racism and prejudice by showing it in all its magnificent idiocy. I just don't think the character is as funny as the other two. Having said that, Borat: Cultural Learnings was pretty funny.

Whether he was attending a fancy dinner party in a southern mansion, taking driving lessons, or wrestling nude with his producer --don't ask, words can't describe it-- Borat is hilarious. The responses he generates from his victims are often even more hilarious, if sometimes frightening. The government of Kazakhstan may not agree, but Borat is the funniest thing to come out of Central Asia since . . . well . . . Borat is the funniest thing to come out of Central Asia.

But something really funny happens during the movie. Despite holding up a mirror to the individual and corporate prejudices of everyday Americans, they come out as a pretty nice bunch of people. Most are happy to help Borat learn more about their country and their culture, and some display graciousness above and beyond the call of duty. There may be prejudice lurking just below the surface, but there is also sweetness and generosity. And that, perhaps, is the most important lesson that Borat has to teach us.