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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that teens are definitely going to want to see this movie because it has been promoted non-stop on MTV, Comedy Central, Saturday Night Live, among others. It stars cult sensation Sacha Baron Cohen of Da Ali G Show. It's undeniably raunchy, vulgar, and funny; Baron Cohen uses his character Borat to expose the effects of ignorance by targeting ignorant behavior. But unless you want to dive under your seat or clap your hands over their eyes and ears, this is absolutely not kid entertainment. Fake "reporter" Borat lampoons Americans' sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, religious intolerance, classism, and ageism by putting people on the spot and peppering them with questions. The movie is full of stuff like naked men wrestling (an extended, rather explicit sequence); visual gags about prostitution, feminism, and marriage (a wife's death is celebrated); toilet humor (literally); and some physical fighting/clumsiness. Jokes aimed at U.S. popular culture and beliefs include references to Baywatch, Michael Jackson, "Dirty Harold," Pentecostal church practices, Jews, rodeos/cowboys, etiquette, patriotic pride, hip-hop culture, and college fraternities. Language includes "f--k," "c--k," "s--t," "ass," "p---y," and just about anything else you can imagine (some in subtitles).
Families can talk about deliberately offensive humor. Does Borat's mockery of ignorance and prejudice help the people he targets understand his point, or are they clueless "victims" of his humor? Ask your kids if they think viewers who identify with some of the intolerant/over-earnest people Borat interviews will see themselves in a new light? Or will they feel upset by the on-screen encounters? What point is the movie trying to make? Does the satire help or simply entertain? How can you tell the difference?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
Borrowing from Andy Kaufman, John Waters, and Steve-O, BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN is less innovative and subversive than it is observant. A faux documentary tracking the cross-country antics of Kazakh TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen), director Larry Charles' movie shows that laughing at ignorance constitutes its own kind of bliss.
The case might be made that Borat picks (on) easy targets: frat boys, rodeo cowboys, hotel desk clerks, smug Southern dining club members. Although the government of Kazakhstan has protested publicly against the character, Baron Cohen's fans (familiar with his origins on Da Ali G Show) appreciate Borat's gotcha comedy. Baron Cohen never breaks character, maintaining the persona of an outspoken, misogynistic, anti-Semitic manchild who -- while shopping for a vehicle with which he can "kill gypsies" -- announces cheerfully that he bought his wife when she was 12.
Borat and his hairy, camera-shy producer Azamat (Ken Davitian) are sent to America to learn about "the glorious country U, S, and A" and make a documentary for their local Kazakh TV station. They start in Manhattan, where Borat terrorizes the locals with his aggressive friendliness and tendency to wash his delicates in Central Park. Then, smitten after spotting Pamela Anderson on a Baywatch rerun in his hotel room, Borat sets forth on a road trip to Los Angeles.
While almost everyone he meets on the way goes along with his contorted language and vulgar behavior, it's not always easy to tell where their awareness begins and ends. Some appear to wholly buy his routine (a loudly homophobic and patriotic cowboy advises him to shave off his mustache so he doesn't look like a "terrorist"), but most seem at least vaguely conscious of his strangeness ... and the possibility that he and his unseen camera crew have ulterior motives. Still, they know about reality TV, so they imagine they understand -- or might control -- the humiliation of their encounters with Borat. Not so much.
Borat interviews stern-faced "feminists" (laughing at their suggestion that women might be equal to men), talks to politicians Bob Barr and Alan Keyes (a genuine "chocolate face," Borat marvels), wrestles in the nude during a mortgage brokers' banquet, and seeks instruction from an affable humor coach and a pert expert on etiquette. He cavorts with Gay Pride revelers (with whom he drinks, showers, and spends the night) and Pentecostal churchgoers (where his behavior is, suddenly, the least outrageous in the room). And he proclaims repeatedly his love for all things American. A rodeo audience goes along when he lauds "America's war of terror" ("May George Bush drink the blood of every man, woman, and child in Iraq"), but ultimately becomes uncomfortable when he hijacks the U.S. national anthem in order to praise Kazakhstan.
Sometimes Borat cheats to make his point. While attending a genteel dinner party (during which one guest notes that the "cultural differences are vast"), he disrupts dessert by inviting brazen prostitute Luenell (played the professional comedian of the same name) to join the group. Horrified, his hosts hurry him out the door; the irony is that, by his journey's end, Borat realizes the true worth of this ample-bosomed, big-hearted, short-shortsed woman. While she's useful in exposing the intolerance of the hoity-toities, like Borat himself, she's a joke in and of herself, as well as a means to target others. High-five!
Families who like this movie will also like Da Ali G Show, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Insomniac with Dave Attell, John Waters' movies, Albert Brooks' Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, and The Yes Men.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentFrequent body parts on display (cleavage, men and women in underwear or naked); Borat calls a 900 sex line (nothing explicit); verbal references to sex acts ("sexy time," offers to buy women on the street) and body parts ("vagina," "c--k," "hair from pubis"); allusions to homosexual acts ("rubber fist in my anus"); a prolonged scene in which Borat and Azamat wrestle, naked (penises are blocked out, but scrotums are explicitly set in each other's faces); frequent sexual slang and conversation (Borat's misogyny is a running joke); Borat has a date with a prostitute (pretty tame, but mention of paying for sex); references to a car being a "p---y magnet" photos show Borat's son's penis, full frontal. |
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ViolenceBroad, slapsticky violence (wrestling, etc.); Borat commends the United States' military actions in Iraq; a horse falls down; a bear roars at children and scares them. |
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LanguageSome profanity, including "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "c--k," and "son of a bitch," plus occasional colorful phrases ("Eat my t-ts"). |
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Social BehaviorThe movie's comedic point is to target intolerance, vulgarity, and classism/racism, which are revealed as Borat interacts with regular U.S. citizens. Borat's own misogynistic, socially unacceptable behavior is all part of his act. |
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CommercialismDevotion to all things Baywatch. Borat appreciates the materialism and luxury of the United States, as compared to his run-down village in Kazakhstan. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoDrinking, references to drugs. |
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