Borat

One of the first things that I realized after seeing this DVD, is that Sacha Cohen is still walking. That is, when one watches this movie, it is amazing he finished it safely. He pissed alot of people off. Most of you are aware of his character Borat Sagdiyev, the Kazakhstani journalist that gets to travel to the USA. (Cultural Learnings of America, yada, yada yada.) And on the surface, this film is rather crude. I point this out only because, through the tears running down my face from laughing so hard, I must be objective. But it's also quite insightful. And I think Cohen draws from past comedians is such a way, that the film at times almost becomes a tribute.

For instance, if I was to pick an original source for the premise of Borat himself, I would submit Steve Martin's "wild and crazy guy!" from the early SNL years. Cohen also uses clever mannerisms akin to Charles Chaplin. There are scenes where Borat has become despondent over being abandoned by his travel companion and producer Azamat Bagatov. And when he finally meets-up with Azamat in LA, he finds him disguised as Chaplin!

But it's Lenny Bruce that Cohen is really trying to channel. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Bruce) Sacha Cohen has created Borat not so much to mock Eastern Europe, but rather to suggest we mirror them. And while Borat unbashedly embraces intolerence, the film suggests the rest of us pretend intolerance doesn't exist. (Imus, are you reading this?)

In another life, Sacha Cohen would teach a foreign language at some local high school. A geeky, tall guy that understands the codes that govern verse. In this life he's a sage. Big recommend.