Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Borat may be funny, but it reminds us of some painful truths about America that have been dismissed for decades.

“America is not the greatest country in the world”, said Will McAvoy in The Newsroom (2012). The audience was stunned, gasping at the mere thought of anyone disparaging the great United States of America. The Land of Opportunity. The Land of the Free. Home of the Brave. And today, the epicenter of political mockery. Despite the American decline, the pride and loyalty of its citizens remain strong. But sometimes, with great ego comes great comedy, delivered by those who are not afraid to criticize their own compatriots. In this regard, there was no better person than Borat to make a timely return for Trump's America after 14 long years since his debut in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Borat the reporter from Kazakhstan, has a masterful command over bringing the best and worst out of his targets. In his disguises as Ali G, Bruno, and others on Who is America?, he sets up farcical scenarios and elicit unscripted reactions from people. When done successfully, these reactions tend to reflect the cultural norms of the country or expose a set of hidden beliefs that have been boiling under the surface. The end result can be hilarious as intended, or show troublesome cases of reality in the rise of Trump’s America. Cohen’s style is to push the boundaries of social norms and and is not afraid of embarrassing himself to make people uncomfortable or even reveal their own biases. Ultimately, what transpires on the screen with real people is as reported without imposing Cohen’s personal beliefs, left-wing moral superiority or an overbearing commentary. He lets his interviewees or unfortunate victims do most of the grave-digging. This way, you organically experience the American culture and appreciate the diversity of attitudes/perspectives/opinions, no matter how shocking. The character Borat himself is provocative while oblivious to his own absurdity; those who watch the antics unfold mistaken his violation of social taboos and outrageous viewpoints as offensive and promoting a dangerous narrative. But they fail to understand that portraying such actions and viewpoints with absurdity is the very act of denouncing them. To believe in Cohen’s genuine depravity would be foolish and a shallow interpretation of his style, which is to be the foil of the sensible.

Hollywood’s politics is verifiably influenced by left-wing ideals. Therefore, political mockumentaries like Borat 2 tend to be more critical and belittling towards these so-called Trump supporters. The entertainment value is there, just by the fact that some aspects of Trumpism are downright absurd and comical. Unlike some evening talk shows, however, I think Borat 2 and Cohen is careful to mock Trumpism as a belief system, not its believers. In one scene, Borat befriends a couple of Americans who seemed to have Republican values. Despite the differences, the Americans invited Borat over to their home for a couple nights stay during a pandemic and showed great hospitality to a foreigner. I thought this was particularly thoughtful, showing that people’s political beliefs do not define their character whereas doing so through stereotypes is dangerous and could be the root cause of the deep divide in America. Whether this was intended or not, I appreciated that the movie included many hopeful and genuine encounters to balance out its sarcasm. Few mockumentaries are able to develop a satisfying storyline while seamlessly incorporating the bleak realities of today, which further speaks to Cohen’s savvy.

On the surface, I laugh at the jokes and stereotypes. On a deeper level though, I become more concerned about the problems that are boiling beneath our consciousness. Trump’s election was a wake-up call – that problems over gender, race, security and religion have always existed. Trump himself is the symptom, but not the problem. Removing him from the media limelight is a good step towards some level of political peace and silence, but by no means signifies the end of all problems. Mockumentaries like Borat 2, if taken seriously, echo these same exact sentiments. Ultimately, the real-life observations may put us in disbelief yet ask us a very important question: what should we do about it? It’s a disheartening thought, to say the least. In the final scene of Borat 2, a giant paper mache “anti-vax Karen” and a “Trump supporter” were shown stomping on a paper mache “Dr. Fauci”. It was difficult to watch, knowing that health experts who are sacrificing a whole lot to protect the country are being discredited and figuratively stomped on by citizens stonewalling their precious rights.

When the end credits rolled, my enjoyment of the movie became superseded by sadness. Once again, I was reminded of the vast polarization and its subsequent lawlessness of sensitive matters like gender, race, economics, science and security, exactly as depicted in the movie. After a few more minutes of reflection, however, I also became optimistic. Even in this chaotic society, there exist compassionate people like the old Jewish women from a synagogue who hugged Borat despite his misinformed anti-semitic views and the black woman who inspired Borat’s daughter to love herself. Apart from the shallow jokes, their actions motivate me to be dignified and empathetic towards others who may be misunderstood but good-willed at heart. Perhaps until we stop hurling personal insults to each other or stop assuming each other’s character solely based on political beliefs, we can finally understand what it truly means to “agree to disagree”, which in the grand scheme of things, an unexpected lesson to learn from a man named Borat who once ran in the streets of NYC butt-naked.

Meet Borat Sagdiyev, reporter from Kazakh Ministry of Information and tasked to make a documentary about "US and A".