Cohen sputters out the most outrageous, racist and sexist statements he can think of; yet it’s the reaction of his unknowing victim which proves to be the most interesting aspect of the film. Borat meets real people in real situations with hysterical consequences. His backwards behaviour generates strong reactions around him exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture.
Once in America, Borat criticises western values at every turn. One person who is likely to regret the day he met Borat, is Tennessee rodeo manager Bobby Rowe. He is deliberately provoked by the comedian into making unnecessary, prejudice and disapproving remarks about Muslims and homosexuals. Borat’s stop at Dickson’s Tennessee, where he is invited to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in front of a crowd of rodeo fans. Warned beforehand by a rodeo manger that he ‘looks a little too much like a terrorist’; Borat wins over the crowd by informing them that Kazakhstan supports their country’s ‘War of Terror’. He then goes on to include that he hopes ‘George Bush may drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq’. Borat proceeds to stir up the rodeo but, when he begins to sings his version of Kazakhstan’s national anthem to the tune of America’s; he is immediately booed out of the arena. Sacha Baron Cohen knows exactly which buttons to press and he then just keeps on pressing them.
A Hotel messenger delivers a telegram informing Borat that his wife has just died. At first the man is very professional; even offering sincere condolences, but when Borat gets excited over the news and yells out ‘haigh faive’, the man quickly joins in on the celebration. Borat pushes the limit of humour as he reveals a deep and disturbing truth and, ignorance within American culture. Do we live in a society where difference is not accepted?
Borat heads from Washington D.C, Tennessee, California and finally to Los Angles in search for his beloved Pamela Anderson. Most people would fly across America, but Borat prefers to travel in style!-in an ice cream van. He purchases from a car dealer. Although he does have a reasonable excuse, he fears that "in case the Jews repeat their attack of 9/ 11".
If for any reason you object to seeing a 500lb bare, naked and hairy man running around a hotel room, then you might want to rethink about watching this film. Whether its black people, Jewish people, women, students, every category of human beings will find something to complain about after watching this film. Borat is homophobic, which leads to a distressed Borat asking “So you think that the man who put his hand in my anus was… was… homosexual?” Borat questions the thought that “women have smaller brains than men?” His genius work stands out as he succeeds in creating explosive cultural clashes such as having a posh Alabama lady calling Borat “A lovely man… with a bit of effort he could be properly Americanised”, but she is later showered with bad surprise, when Borat brings down his souvenir after a nature call.
Borat is placed in the most difficult situations possible, sometimes barely escaping being sent off to jail and even once wrestled to the ground by the police. All throughout the documentary Cohen remains in character. Like him or hate him, Sacha Baron Cohen delivers the amazing performance and one that the audience won’t forget.
Cohen’s comedy can sometime stoop to the comedy likes of Jackass-type toilet humour. A few scenes just aren’t funny enough and are unnecessary such as the fight between Azamat and Borat which leads to them standing naked in a presentation evening. Cohen delivers some of the biggest laughs of the year, while at the same time thinking about the root causes of prejudice and intolerance, and for that reason Borat is a must-see.
