With the sequel coming on Amazon Prime this Friday, it's time to revisit the film that not only made its star a household name, but introduce a new, albeit controversial, way to make a mockumentary film. Borat Sagdiyev is a Kazakh journalist who is hired to travel across to New York City to make a documentary of the country's culture that can help make Kazakhstan more like them. When Borat learns about the show, "Baywatch" and Pamela Anderson, he decides to travel across the country to California in the hopes of marrying her, unbeknownst to his producer, Azamat. There's not really much of a story per se, but rather a narrative structure to allow Borat to interact with unknowing Americans as they either get weirded out, react casually or harshly to the antics that Borat is always planning. It's without saying that the tone is not meant to be taken seriously at all whatsoever. From the misrepresentation of Kazakhstan, the obliviousness of Borat and Azamat, and the various circumstances that the characters get themselves into, scripted or not. The comedy is very dependant on offensiveness and cringe. It's hilarious for some people, but it can feel low-brow to others. It's not intentionally trying to address problematic people or topics in a clever matter, but instead just have the character of Borat be a bumbling fool and try to offend the various people he comes across. It's almost like a prototype of Cohen's show, "Who Is America?", only with less attempt to expose politically incorrect people by a means of agreeing to their ill-fated logic.
Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat is legendary to say the least. Cohen makes you believe that the character of Borat isn't fictional, but a real oddball with a heart of gold. What really works with making the viewer believe in this character of Cohen's creation is that the sense of cluelessness and obliviousness to American culture and people feels almost logical in a way. Borat also tends to also be a wild card as he doesn't comment or oppose extremist groups or wrong-minded people in order to not break character, mainly when he accepts Christianity from the United Pentecostal. However, he also shows that he can actually pick up on things if he truly wanted to, such as the "not" jokes. Ken Davitian as Azamat is also an actor that should be praised for his contributions in the film. Not only does he act off on Borat's character and partakes in the most extreme scene of the film as he and Borat fight naked in a hotel, but he has this enjoyable personality that makes the viewer both like and hate him for his hostility. The last character to really mention would be Luenell the prostitute, played by the actress of the same name. She really only appears in two scenes, but the chemistry between her and Borat is really sweet. Aside from these three characters, the majority of people filmed and participating are not actors at all. While Pamela Anderson was aware of what was going to happen to her in the movie, the people around her clearly didn't. Although it can be kind of wrong to laugh at people who are essentially being pranked on, there are some genuinely uncalled reactions with the driving instructor being one of the few people to enjoy Borat's presence or the car salesman not questioning Borat's odd questions of what car is best to run over a group of Jews. There's an organic sense to the reactions of people as they observe or be around these fictional characters, even if the viewer starts to question whether or not they were actors to begin with.
Although people might think Cohen directed the seemingly bare-bones mockumentary, it was really Larry Charles who takes the directing credit, who's best known for his work on various TV shows such as "Seinfeld" and "The Tick". Considering his line of work, it's no question as to why Charles took interest in this film. It's hard to really judge directing in a film that's mostly ad-libbed, but what is obviously really noticeable is the efforts to make every scene feel credible with no strings attached. Even scenes that are clearly scripted from the village in Kazakhstan to the various arguments and conversations with Borat and Azamat are directed with such naturalness that it feels genuine, despite the evidence that supports the opposite. The cinematography by Anthony Hardwick and Luke Geissbuhler is a huge factor for making the film work. Much like "Wayne's World", there's a clever mixture of handheld and cinematic approach to the camerawork that is meant to somewhat make the viewer question in what role or character the camera is playing to an extent. Unlike in that film however, the characters or people never actually turn their attention to the camera or address the cameramen or viewer during their visit to America. It takes the approach of a real documentary at times by not having the cameraman be involved in the movie or have any acknowledgement given to them via by a contract. Even though there's clearly a cameraman in the scenes of Borat being "alone", it's how professional the cameraman are to never reveal themselves and to keep this cinematic illusion up for the viewer. The music by Erran Baron Cohen, Sacha's older brother, is really good at making up Kazakh music that is meant for the film and the character of Borat. Regardless if the music is accurate to the region or not, it's actually great folk-inspired music that would make you want to dance very much like Borat himself. Regardless of how much work Charles did directing, he did a good job supervising the project at the very least.
"Borat" is a film that shouldn't be anything more than good, but manages to actually be practically brilliant for its sense of simplicity. Outside of the humour and ethics surrounding the film not being for everybody, the movie is surprisingly well-crafted. From an engaging narrative of Borat exploring American culture while traveling to find Pamela Anderson, the tone and humour being unapologetic over-the-top and funny, Sacha's performance as Borat goes beyond iconic as the actor creates such a loveable character that audiences wish were real, the two side characters of Azamat and Luenell are memorable in their own right, the reactions of the unknowing non-actors are priceless at times, the cinematography by Hardwick and Geissbuhler is low-key fantastic in terms of making the film feel authentic and not having the cameraman be acknowledged whatsoever despite the mockumentary structure, the music by Erran is fun to listen to with the "Kazakh-inspired" folk music offering a really unique score that most comedies wish they can achieve, and Charles's directing ensures the otherwise raunchy circumstances and premise as well as the few scripted sequences feel as realistic as possible, making sure that footage of both scripted and ad-libbed can blend together as one with almost no differences to each other. Even though it's not for everyone, that doesn't excuse that the film is very much an amazing film overall.
Verdict: 9/10. One of the most iconic comedies to date and the prime example on how to make a great mockumentary. I can't wait to watch and review the sequel later this week!
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