Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Kazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world. With a documentary crew in tow, Borat becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson.

Director:

Larry Charles

Writers:

Sacha Baron Cohen (screenplay), Anthony Hines (screenplay),

Stars:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 18 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Borat
Ken Davitian	...	Azamat
Luenell	...	Luenell
Chester	...	Bear
Charlie	...	Bear

Storyline

Borat Sagdiyev is a TV reporter of a popular show in Kazakhstan as Kazakhstan's sixth most famous man and a leading journalist. He is sent from his home to America by his government to make a documentary about American society and culture. Borat takes a course in New York City to understand American humor. While watching Baywatch on TV, Borat discovers how beautiful their women are in the form of C. J. Parker, who was played by actress Pamela Anderson who hails from Malibu, California. He decides to go on a cross-country road trip to California in a quest to make her his wife and take her back to his country. On his journey Borat and his producer encounter a country full of strange and wonderful Americans, real people in real chaotic situations with hysterical consequences.

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Plot Keywords:

california | kazakhstan | travel | tv reporter | new york city | 

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Taglines:

Come to Kazakhstan, It's Nice!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong crude and sexual content including graphic nudity, and language

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace

Country:

USA

Language:

English Romanian Hebrew Polish Armenian

Release Date:

3 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Borat

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$938,444 (Australia) (17 November 2006)

Gross:

$128,505,958 (USA) (23 March 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Four by Two, Everyman Pictures, Dune Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min 82 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of "Borat" was heavily criticized by the Kazakh Government, "being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is incompatible with the ethics and civilized behavior of Kazakhstan's people". Sacha Baron Cohen aka "Borat" gave a faked press conference at the White House gates on 29 September 2006, just one day before an official visit of Kazakhstan's president. The Kazakh government hired two Western public relations firms to counter Borat's claims, running a four-page advertisement in The New York Times implicitly rebutting many of the claims made by Borat. Kazahkstan has since changed their strategy by playing along, going so far as inviting Borat to visit Kazahkstan.

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Goofs

During the dinner scenes at the Magnolia Manor, Borat excuses himself to use the restroom, only to return to the table with a bag of excrement in hand, and immediately after, one of the ladies is in the restroom with Borat showing him how to properly use a toilet, which denotes that Borat has no knowledge of toilets or their proper use. However earlier in the film, Borat talks about that on weekend he travels to Astana to "watch the ladies make the toilet".

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Quotes

[first lines]
Borat: Jak sie masz? My name-a Borat. I like you. I like sex. Is nice!
["How are you?" in Polish]

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Crazy Credits

The credits include: "Feces for Mr. Baron Cohen provided by..."

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Connections

References Dirty Harry (1971)

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Soundtracks

"Take My Breath Away"
(1986)
Written by Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock
Performed by Berlin
Courtesy of Paramount Picture

User Reviews

Borat was a terrible film ...NOT!

Borat proves to be the Python of our generation.

I say this as a die-hard Monty Python fan – not because the humour is on the same level or follows the same guidelines (in fact, the common ground is here is that it follows no guidelines) – but because both comedy teams mask their sketches in a feature film, passing them off as a story when it becomes glaringly clear that the latter is an elaborate pretext under which to have outrageous, absurdist and side-splittingly fun in a series of genius gags.

Yet for all of Borat's subsequent disorganisation and warped narrative, we are first served a gorgeously condensed introduction to our character in his village in Kazakhstan. This segment was possibly the biggest crowd-pleaser in my theatre and perhaps rightly so, for I would call it the film's goldmine in terms of sheer laugh-out-loud humour. Here we are introduced to Borat's sister ("She is number-four prostitute in whole of Kazakhstan."), whom he kisses on the mouth, his main interests (ping-pong, sunbathing and "watch ladies make toilet") as well as a wide variety of hilarious native Kazakhs. Undoubtedly the success of the introduction stems from a combination of novelty and a culture shock.

Once the sprawling surge of Kazakhstani culture subsides, Borat flies to New York City to make a movie-film about the glorious US and A. The booming Russian ethnic score melts into Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talking' At Me" and the film gets ambitious: it spoofs Jon Voight's incongruous cowboy character walking down Manhattan in Midnight Cowboy (1969). This I found a pleasant surprise, but the referential spoofs end here and the rest is all Sascha Baron Cohen – and we couldn't be happier.

The second half of Borat is arguably less compelling. It is hard to tell why, for the humour remains consistently good and there is an almost exponential stupidity with our Borat character as the sets out to go to California to marry Pamela Anderson. I would not go as far as to say the novelty "wears off", but we are a little more settled now and Borat has found his safe footing. Next, however, the film totally floors whatever safeness you may have with one of the most unspeakably graphic hotel room scenes I have ever seen. I won't give anything away, but rest assured that some viewers (*males*) will watch in horrified silence while others will literally cramp up from laughing so violently. I belong more to the latter category.

As Borat travels through America, there is a wealth of juxtapositions to be found when he interacts with the people – members of the white house, television broadcasters, etiquette teachers, Christian fundamentalists and Jews – all offers layered hilarity and a consistent cloud of laughter kept hovering in the air. Sadly, it was not always directed toward Borat (but most of the time) but toward some truly idiotic hick Americans. When I was informed the film used many candid takes, I can only hope the unreasonably creepy Jesus convention was *not* one of them.

In conclusion, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)" is a towering comedy achievement. It is apparent that Sascha Baron Cohen has done something truly cool here and has created an anti-semitic, misogynist and bigoted character that aptly embodies all racy taboos. As an actor he is unmistakably brave and uninhibited, which makes it easy for the film to lose itself in a tornado of gags, spoofs, bizarre one-liners and graphic jokes. The most fun I've had in a theatre since...forever!!!

9 out of 10