<p>Note that this posting is neither in support of nor in criticism of this movie; just to provide some miscellaneous information on a couple of items that are not obvious to most of those who attend:</p>
<li><p>Borat’s lines in the dialogs that are supposedly in Kazakh are actually almost all in Hebrew. </p></li>
<li><p>Most of the lines supposedly spoken in Kazakh by his traveling companion are actually spoken in Armenian.</p></li>
<li><p>The numerous nasty anti-gypsy remarks are combined with the fact that all of the zippy music in the sound track is either Macedonian (during the body of the movie) or Rumanian (during the credits) gypsy.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I thought much of the movie was offensive, and immediately after seeing it, I regretted going to it. However . . . I always find it interesting to hear what people’s true thoughts are, and Borat was able to elicit those in several instances. So I think the movie has some merit. </p>
<p>Many of us think that our society is moving toward less bigotry and more open-mindedness. Borat, unfortunately, showed that not to be the case. People are (usually) just better at politely covering their true sentiments.</p>
<p>I thought it was a brilliant satire–skewering Americans in places I didn’t htink they could be skewered. I still can’t get over the fellow plopping the gold 9 mm gun on the counter when Borat asks for a gun to kill Jews with. I’m still in shock that such Americans still exist. Naive, I guess. </p>
<p>The ten 18 year old boys we took thought it was the funniest movie they had ever seen. It is an ‘uncomfortable’ funny to be sure.</p>
<p>Borat is, in fact, an Orthodox Jew with a degree from Oxford. Every bit of the movie, including the Hebrew, was intentional.</p>
<p>Our family is with you and your crew of 18-yr-olds, cheers. We thought it brilliant yet uncomfortable satire, and in the case of the more cynical of our sons, it reinforced his beliefs about the bigotry and stupidity that still exists in the US. Sasha Baron Cohen knows exactly what he’s doing.</p>
<p>A copy of the DVD found its way under our Christmas tree.</p>
<p>Some of the most objectionable material was actually based on historical occurrences. The “Running of the Jew” (for example) was actually held annually in Rome beginning in 1466 under Pope Paul II (one of the gay popes, he actually died having anal sex with one of his pages), and was still occurring as late as 1837 when the chief rabbi of Rome asked Pope Innocent to abolish it (he refused). The “event” was exported to several other countries, including Poland.</p>
<p>My son has seen it twice, and regaled several of his “favorite” scenes, with the caveat that I would “hate it”. I heard all about the gun scene, among others.</p>
<p>I will wait till DVD, when I can FF through objectionable parts, or turn it off, if I am that disgusted.</p>
<p>I don’t like racism, even disguised as humor.</p>
<p>“Cohen’s skill and discipline as an actor allow him to realistically portray Borat for the bigot and fool that describe the character but when interacting with ususpecting people it reveals their deep prejudices as they are caught off guard.”</p>
<p>I’ll confess I haven’t seen it. I am always skeptical about films which skewer “other” people. I am also tired of Muslims (Kazakhs) always being the bad guys.</p>
<p>It sounds like a great opportunity to go to the movies and feel superior to, you know, those people, who aren’t as good and kind and superior as we are.</p>
<p>The story I heard was that the film crew rented a few classrooms during the holidays to film a “documentary”, and nobody realized it was Borat until they saw the movie and recognized the room. </p>
<p>Americans and Kazakhs. But not “our type” of Americans. Apparently, once you get to the fly over states, there is not one decent human being to be found. Good thing I found that out now; I’ll stop talking to my friends and relatives in the Midwest. Who knew what a bunch of racists they all were? Not like us cool Easterners.</p>
<p>It would be difficult for anything to be as funny as Da Ali G Show. Gotta love British comedy.</p>
<p>My wife and daughter despise Da Ali G show. I see it as being in the tradition of Inspector Clouseau…where the humor lies in the unbelieveable stupidity of the character.</p>
<p>Cohen’s Kazakhstan of course has absolutely nothing to do with a real Kazakhstan, unlike his version of the US. So I don’t think he is skewering Kazakhs here, they jus got a short end of the stick because he liked the sound of their country’s name, I guess.</p>