The new film Borat starring Sacha Baron Cohen is flat out brilliant, and I mean highlight of the year kind of brilliant. This ribald satire of life in America circa 2006 is spot on and like a dog with a meaty new bone it never lets its subject out of its teeth for the entire running time.
The film begins with Borat nominally showing us his hometown and then leaves on a mission as a goodwill ambassador from Kazakhstan to the United States. Once he lands in New York the real fun begins. He dispenses with his original plan early on and leaves New York because California calls him. The journey by car (or should i say light truck) between these two places is the core of the film and it delivers both with laughs and shudders in equal proportions as we see Borat encountering all kinds of Americans, many who are quite frightening in their views.
Rarely has improvisation been used as incredibly well in film than Cohen and company. This device enables Cohen to go in fairly unscripted into people’s everyday lives and interact with them. His subjects know they are on camera (and have no doubt signed something regarding their participation) but they use Americans love of “reality” to incredible advantage here and what is revealed is many times quite frightening about the psyche of our country.
Borat tackles misogyny, race, homophobia and anti-Semitism relentlessly and with hilarious results. I saw this film in a fairly gay audience and the howls were almost nonstop yet there were times when a collective gasp would ripple through as Americans said the most vicious things and intimated even worse about each other.
I don’t want to give anything away per my usual loathing to give out spoilers and plot but suffice it to say that I heartily recommend this fantastic satire to any and all who want to be entertained thoroughly by a master. Mr. Cohen, along with the director Larry Charles have done a superb job. The fact that Borat and Talledega Nights are the two best satires of the year and both star Sacha Baron Cohen is no mere coincidence.
