Borat (English/ Kazhak, 2006)

Once in a while, there comes a radically different movie which becomes a major success, though half of the people are left wondering if the success is because of some real content or just the “being radical” part. The praises in reviews just spirals, sometimes because a reviewer can’t bring himself to criticize the movie lest he should be considered outdated or old-fashioned. Borat is such a movie.

Borat is a Kazakhstan journalist who is tourist USA to learn American culture and convey it to his people. The movie is a hilarious satire on the prejudices that Americans hold themselves – these being highlighted by showing the American reaction to a loud portrayal of supposed Eastern European prejudices.

The basic premise of the movie is quite good, and it makes for several funny scenes in the movie. However, the movie was just too loud for my taste. The good scenes from the film – like Borat asking to a set of feminists, “You mean Woman are equal to Man even when they have smaller brains?”, or Americans talking of equality over a Dinner party but getting offended when Borat gets a black prostitute as his guest – are quite enjoyable. I certainly draw a line though, at seeing a man’s face buried in a fat man’s bum on a large screen.

The execution of the movie is very loud, and in your face. The movie attempts to be funny throughout and ends up being funny most of the time. You can always close your eyes for the scenes you don’t like. There is not much to act, as it’s a movie of one gag after another, but the Borat guy does it well. Please excuse me for writing an uneducated review this time, I simply did not find the movie interesting enough to find out more about it.

Recommendation – Go watch it. You will never find such a movie again.
Rating – ✔✘✘✘ (✔ for what I liked, ✘s for the rest of the movie)