Movie Poster

Great success!

# Review

This was my first introduction to Sacha Baron Cohen’s works. In this film, Borat plays perhaps his most famous character, Borat Sagdiyev, a reporter from Kazakhstan. Cohen as Borat visits America and causes mayhem and hilarity with unexpecting Americans who believe that Borat is a real personality.

Cohen has an amazing sense of humour as he improvises the character of Borat while Ken Davitian plays an excellent support role for Cohen. The humour, as with that of Ali G, is crude, childish, and deeply offensive. For instance the character of Borat is extremely misogynistic and anti-Semitic. Despite this, Borat is clearly a satirical take on misogyny and anti-Semitism and through hilariously illustrating the absurdness of these fringe viewpoints, condemns them. In fact, the first person to introduce me to Borat clips in middle school was a Jewish buddy of mine. The film explores sensitive topics in America, such as race and sexuality.

There are, however, some legitimate grievances against Borat from the unwilling participants, such as the Romani village which Cohen portrayed as his home village in Kazakhstan as well as some not so legitimate grievances, such as the USC frat guys who were exposed on the film. Despite this, Borat became a cultural phenomenon in America, appearing on various talk shows and having an upcoming sequel in store later this year.

# Conclusion

A film with a great sense of humour.

# Overall rating: 8.1

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