Saturday, November 04, 2006
Borat
I'd like to write something along the lines of "Everything that happened till this point is stupid" with respect to 'Borat.' Because not only is it the funniest movie I've ever seen, it comes closer to satisfying my demand that given the resilience of marketing strategies and cultural conservatism, the only thing worth doing is to make fun of the bad guys in the most contentless possible way. That way you can't just be picked up and absorbed into the litany of so-called liberals whom half the population will simply not pay attention to at all. No one will include Sasha Baron Cohen in the roster of Michael Moore, the Dixie Chicks, Harry Belafonte, the ACLU, etc. 'Borat' is new in that it absolutely skewers 'the US and A' without giving off the impression that he's some quasi-sophisticated filmmaker who plugs at it until he finally stumbles on the fattest, most racist old lady who's excited to be caught on camera prattling about how it's God's will that George W. Bush be in office, etc etc.
Cohen basically hates America. He shows only its worst aspects: assholes on the subway, racist store owners, Pentecostals speaking in tongues, politicians proclaiming the US as a Christian nation, terrifyingly homophobic and anti-Muslim rodeo people, the orgy of martial interpellations that is sports. The fact that his character hails from a country that only 30 Americans can name the capital of makes him virtually create it from scratch, with all the attendant Communist-era imagery, spectacular anti-Semitism, vulgarity, and a hilarious accent. Kazakstan, member of the coalition of the willing, fairly recent addition to the 'free' 'west,' proves a superb foil to the bloated hyperpower that is us.
Borat's over-the-top anti-Semitism is supremely fucking funny, and it provides him cover not only since Cohen's Jewish (duh) but because it's such an offensive thing to have in your movie, so unlike what a moralist would do, that no one can just label him a liberal. And you know what happens when you get called that. Bill O'Reilly puts you on his enemies list and then you find yourself preaching to the choir and hanging out with Cindy Sheehan. Making Borat technically repellant but still endearing is just ingenious, and it's all in the service of muddying up the agenda. Cohen isn't trying to de-elect Bush or urge us to believe that patriotism somehow has nothing to do with the military-industrial complex. This is the best political humor ever created. He doesn't make you afraid that legions of earnest hippie sophomores are going to elbow Chomsky aside and deify him as their hero. Nor will National Review write recuperative paeans in his honor as they love to do for Sprinsteen. This is a good-natured Fuck You, America. It's perfect pitch.
And scenes such as the extended destructive naked hotel wrestling with the fatass producer--I mean, how can you not flinch? It might be the funniest thing that ever happened. Usually these things are tainted with at least a little homophobia or racism, but it just isn't. This just isn't a guilty pleasure, as you might be able to argue Dave Chappelle kind of is. He's not really pointing out homophobia as much as exploiting the discomfort everyone feels when they see a hairy guy mimicking butt sex with a fatter, hairier guy as they shatter mirrors and upend furniture. The scene looks totally spontaneous. Almost nothing in the whole movie comes off as staged.
Maybe Cohen really did shoot hundreds of hours of film, searching for the most comically wretched people to fool. But apparently Ali G just scored every time, with Ralph Nader, with Andy Rooney, with Pat Buchanan. I prefer to think his genius, as Borat, comes from perpetual, film-worthy character development with every single encounter.
*****
Cohen basically hates America. He shows only its worst aspects: assholes on the subway, racist store owners, Pentecostals speaking in tongues, politicians proclaiming the US as a Christian nation, terrifyingly homophobic and anti-Muslim rodeo people, the orgy of martial interpellations that is sports. The fact that his character hails from a country that only 30 Americans can name the capital of makes him virtually create it from scratch, with all the attendant Communist-era imagery, spectacular anti-Semitism, vulgarity, and a hilarious accent. Kazakstan, member of the coalition of the willing, fairly recent addition to the 'free' 'west,' proves a superb foil to the bloated hyperpower that is us.
Borat's over-the-top anti-Semitism is supremely fucking funny, and it provides him cover not only since Cohen's Jewish (duh) but because it's such an offensive thing to have in your movie, so unlike what a moralist would do, that no one can just label him a liberal. And you know what happens when you get called that. Bill O'Reilly puts you on his enemies list and then you find yourself preaching to the choir and hanging out with Cindy Sheehan. Making Borat technically repellant but still endearing is just ingenious, and it's all in the service of muddying up the agenda. Cohen isn't trying to de-elect Bush or urge us to believe that patriotism somehow has nothing to do with the military-industrial complex. This is the best political humor ever created. He doesn't make you afraid that legions of earnest hippie sophomores are going to elbow Chomsky aside and deify him as their hero. Nor will National Review write recuperative paeans in his honor as they love to do for Sprinsteen. This is a good-natured Fuck You, America. It's perfect pitch.
And scenes such as the extended destructive naked hotel wrestling with the fatass producer--I mean, how can you not flinch? It might be the funniest thing that ever happened. Usually these things are tainted with at least a little homophobia or racism, but it just isn't. This just isn't a guilty pleasure, as you might be able to argue Dave Chappelle kind of is. He's not really pointing out homophobia as much as exploiting the discomfort everyone feels when they see a hairy guy mimicking butt sex with a fatter, hairier guy as they shatter mirrors and upend furniture. The scene looks totally spontaneous. Almost nothing in the whole movie comes off as staged.
Maybe Cohen really did shoot hundreds of hours of film, searching for the most comically wretched people to fool. But apparently Ali G just scored every time, with Ralph Nader, with Andy Rooney, with Pat Buchanan. I prefer to think his genius, as Borat, comes from perpetual, film-worthy character development with every single encounter.
*****
