Okri wrote:My favourite was when he (as Ali G) was interviewing a bunch of religious leaders about God. I swear I nearly wet myself laughing.
"Ain't it hypocriticalist that so many nuns also work as strippers?"
Ali G segments were almost always priceless; his police training routine was one of my favorites. And when he accused one of his guests of not flushing backstage. And in his tour of the UN, where he asked why all the "crap countries" got a vote. Too bad Ali G became too well known that people wouldn't do interviews with him anymore.
Probably the most amazing thing about Da Ali G Show was how successfully Sacha Baron Cohen created three completely different characters. Watching it, even as we see all three characters back-to-back, it's easy to forget that they were all played by one man.
Borat has been the cause of some controversy, mostly related to his frequent displays of anti-Semitism but also notably for his portrayal of Kazakh culture.
Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Borat, is himself Jewish. He explains his character's racist nature by stating that the segments are a "dramatic demonstration of how racism feeds on dumb conformity, as much as rabid bigotry," rather than a display of racism by Baron Cohen himself.
However, the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish anti-racism group, complained to HBO after Borat performed a country western song that called on people to 'throw the Jew down the well', warning them that 'you must be careful of his teeth' and that 'you must grab him by his money', to applause and participation from some members of an audience in Tucson, Arizona, while other audience members seemed stunned and dismayed by Borat's blatant display of anti-Semitism. The full chorus goes: "Throw the Jew down the well/So my country can be free/You must grab him by his horns/Then we have a big party"
At a press conference just hours before the live broadcast of the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards, he shocked local and international journalists in Lisbon by bringing a bag of birds from Romania (the first European country to detect avian influenza) as a gift, but proceeded to say he was sorry that they had all died.
An interview with James Broadwater, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress, caused Broadwater to receive some hateful emails after an episode of Da Ali G Show aired in which he stated that Jews will go to Hell. He was told that the interview would be played in foreign countries to teach others about the American political system. Broadwater later posted a letter on his website denouncing Da Ali G Show, explaining that his statement referred to a theological belief that anyone that "accepts Jesus Christ as lord and savior will spend eternity in Heaven, while everyone who rejects Him will spend eternity in Hell." Broadwater did not apologize for his comments, which some saw as insensitive and inflammatory. Instead, he insisted that "the liberal, anti-God media needs to be brought under the strict control of the FCC, and that as soon as possible."
In January 2005, after convincing the authorities that he was shooting a documentary, Borat managed to infuriate a crowd at a rodeo in Salem, Virginia, first by saying that "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards...and may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq", and then by mangling the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner". For his own safety, Borat was escorted from the venue.
I saw a trailer to this a couple of weeks ago and the audience was in stitches. I haven't seen a reaction to a trailer like this since There's Something About Mary. It looks very funny and I'm sure it will be a big hit.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
I've ignored it because if I see one more photo of him in that speedo, I'll vomit.
Sacha Baron Cohen and his show make me NERVOUS. He takes the concept of fictional personas interacting with unsuspecting people even further than The Daily Show does. I always expect him to get decked, or he'll bring someone to tears.
Since you're not gonna make it through the fall season without hearing about Borat several thousand times, you may as well get acquainted. Borat is an intrepid reporter from Kazakhstan trying to learn about the American way of life:
US President George Bush is to host White House talks on British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
Cohen, 35, creator of Ali G, has infuriated the Kazakhstan government with his portrayal of Borat, a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter.
And now a movie of Borat's adventures in the US has caused a diplomatic incident.
The opening scene, which shows Borat lustily kissing his sister goodbye and setting off for America in a car pulled by a horse, had audiences in stitches when it was first shown last week.
But the film, which has just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, has prompted a swift reaction from the Kazakhstan government, which is launching a PR blitz in the States.
Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev is to fly to the US to meet President Bush in the coming weeks and on the agenda will be his country's image.
President Nazarbayev has confirmed his government will buy "educational" TV spots and print advertisements about the "real Kazakhstan" in a bid to save the country's reputation before the film is released in the US in November.
President Nazarbayev will visit the White House and the Bush family compound in Maine when he flies in for talks that will include the fictional character Borat.
But a spokesman for the Kazakhstan Embassy says it is unlikely that President Nazarbayev will find the film funny.
Roman Vassilenko said: "The Government has expressed its displeasure about Borat's representation of our country.
"Our opinion of the character has not changed.
"We understand that the film exposes the hypocrisy that exists both here in the USA and in the UK and understand that Mr Cohen has a right to freedom of speech.
"Nursultan Nazarbayev has taken Mr Bush up on an invitation to visit this country to help build our relationship with the USA.
"I cannot speak for the president himself, only for the government, but I certainly don't think President Nazarbayev and Mr Bush will share a joke about the film.
"The bottom line is we want people to know that he does not represent the true people of Kazakhstan."
The Kazakh government has previously threatened Baron-Cohen with legal action, for allowing Borat to, among other things, make fun of his homeland, demean women, slander gypsies and urge listeners to "Throw the Jew Down the Well."
Anti-Borat hard-liners have pulled the plug on borat.kz, Borat's Kazakhstan-based Website after his frequent displays of anti-Semitism and his portrayal of Kazakh culture.
Nurlan Isin, President of the Association of Kazakh IT Companies took the action after complaints.
He said: "We've done this so he can't badmouth Kazakhstan under the .kz domain name.
"He can go and do whatever he wants at other domains."
The row originally erupted in November 2005, following Borat's hosting of the MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry was furious over Cohen's bad taste representation of the nation.
'No such thing as bad publicity'
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news conference: "We view Mr. Cohen's behaviour at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with the ethics and civilized behaviour of Kazakhstan's people.
"We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind."
Baron Cohen responded to Ashykbayev in character by posting a video on the Official Borat website.
In the video, Borat said, "In response to Mr. Ashykbayev's comments, I'd like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my Government's decision to sue this Jew.
"Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world.
"Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old."
His blatant outpouring then prompted the Kazakh government to hire two public relations firms to counter the claims, and ran a four-page advertisement in The New York Times.
The ad carried testimonials about the nation's democracy, education system and the power and influence enjoyed by women. News of President Nazarbayev's upcoming visit has prompted experts to study the character's impact on US culture.
Sean R. Roberts, Central Asian Affairs Fellow at Georgetown University, has been studying the phenomenon.
He said: "I have found that more Americans are aware of Kazakhstan than four years ago when I last lived in the United States.
"The increased knowledge of Kazakhstan, however, is not due to the country's economic successes or its role as a U.S. ally in the war on terror.
"Instead, most Americans who have heard of Kazakhstan have heard of it through a satire of a Kazakh journalist named Borat.
"Borat certainly does not promote an image of Kazakhstan that is in sync with that which the government and its leader would like to promote abroad.
"As the old adage goes, however, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity.'
"If that is true, Borat is bringing much more publicity to Kazakhstan."
Cohen's representatives refused to allow him or his alter ego to respond to the controversy because it's not close enough to the film's release date.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
Surprised there's not a thread for this film, which is getting some of the best reviews out there right now and is also stirring controversy (more on that in a bit). I've also seen at least two critics insist that, in a just world, Cohen would get an Oscar nod for Best Actor. Yeah, the Academy is probably too staid for something this edgy, but given how dire the Best Actor category is this year (and that I suspect this flick is going to be a smash) perhaps they should start widening their tastes.
Borat: Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
By Kirk Honeycutt
Bottom line: Great funny satire to make funny ancient hatreds and bigotry.
TORONTO -- This year you are not going to find a more appalling, tasteless, grotesque, politically incorrect or slanderous film than "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." You probably won't laugh as hard all year either. For once it's true: "Borat" has to be seen to be believed. Like an exploding cesspool at a country club dinner. Or a strip show in a cathedral. You just might want to stay through the credit crawl too: The last shot is as funny as the first one.
"Borat" is a mockumentary revolving around one Borat Sagdiyev, a gangly, gray-suited journalist working for Kazakhstan's state-run TV network, who takes his mangled English and die-hard prejudices to America to make a documentary about life in the U.S. of A. Borat is the brainchild of British comic Sacha Baron Cohen, creator and star of HBO's "Da Ali G Show." The director of "Borat" is one of the inventors of modern TV comedy, Larry Charles, whose sure hand here shows that he has moved on from "Masked and Anonymous," his unfortunate first misstep in cinema.
"Borat" played to many empty seats at initial festival screenings last week. But in its final screenings, turn-away crowds showed up thanks to the buzz. Here amid all this serious, high-minded art, audiences were greedy for a movie where everything, truly everything, is inappropriate. Fox may have a hit with "Borat."
...
So, is "Borat" a modern-day version of those old Polish jokes? The movie will have its detractors and defenders, but it's pretty clear the satiric attack isn't on bigotry so much as its origins -- superstitions, traditions, ancestral animosities and beliefs in cultural and gender superiority, all firmly rooted in dire ignorance.
The weapon wielded by Cohen and Charles is crudeness. People today, especially those in public life, can disguise prejudice in coded language and soft tones. Bigotry is ever so polite now. So the filmmakers mean to drag the beast out into the sunlight of brilliant satire and let everyone see the rotting, stinking, foul thing for what it is. When you laugh at something that is bad, it loses much of its power.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
