Borat 2

Finally appeared a move Borat 2 which could have been the most radical political comedy in 14 years, but decided to be careful.

Now the Kazakh journalist only mocks the usual suspects - Trump, covid dissidents, conspiracy theorists, homophobia, racism and sexism. And these are still worthy targets - but keeping track of their defeat is getting more boring.

Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiev, who disgraced the glorious nation of Kazakhstan in his 2006 “documentary” film (a fictional movie allegedly filmed by the heroes of the real “Borat”), ended up in the steppe “gulags” for fourteen years. And his wife, along with her sons and daughter living in the barn, went to a well-fed neighbor. But "prime minister" Nazarbayev decided to have mercy and set the disgraced reporter free. It turns out that the leader of Kazakhstan was very upset that the tough guy Donald Trump is friends with Putin, Kim Jong-un and Kanye West, but his Kazakh colleague is not invited to this elite club. So Borat is again sent to Assashay - America - for the purpose of public diplomacy. His new task is to convey gifts to the American leaders from the Kazakh. Vice President Mike Pence (in the film - Mike Penis) should be handed the sex monkey Jimmy - Kazakhstan's Minister of Culture and local porn star. And the former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, is Borat's underage daughter named Tutar (actress Maria Bakalova, Bulgarian). The Kazakh delegation moors to the shores of the New World when only 15 coronavirus infections were detected in America. But then the end of the world begins.

In the 14 years since the previous installment of Borat (which was so commercially successful that one can admire Sasha Baron Cohen's disinterested patience: anyone else would have turned a successful idea into a meaningless franchise), a lot has changed, but not the actor's method. He still poses as a wandering jester - but the coronavirus plague and the New Middle Ages around now and then force him to compare the absurd comedy with the gloomy "Seventh Seal". Pretending to be a Kazakh documentary filmmaker, Cohen again pushes real Americans into all sorts of stupidity, meanness and self-exposure. True, his hero is now increasingly recognized on the streets, so that several new images are born right inside the film, one more eccentric than the other.

Another sign of the new reality is that now you can only joke about those who will never give back. In the case of Borat-2, these are republicans, rednecks, conservative Christians and completely unrequited Kazakhs. In the fictional Kazakhstan filmed in Romania, it is customary to sleep with sisters and daughters and celebrate the Holocaust as a holiday. The girls here have thick monobrows, and the guys have facial hair like Chewbacca. A penis (one of many in the film) sticks out of a human-skinned chair in the president's office, and local brokers jump from the roofs of two-story skyscrapers as a result of the crisis. In real Kazakhstan, this wild parody will surely be laughing heartily, but it's hard not to notice that Cohen is more careful in choosing goals than ever. Along the way, little Slovenia gets from Borat, but, for example, there is not a single joke about Russia, except that Putin is cool. But what a joke this is.

Armando Iannucci, director of Death of Stalin and a couple of British political television comedies, once said: England has lived the last centuries without bloody upheavals because there is a culture of satire in the country. And that cleans and unites - and simply helps to release steam. Whether Borat 2 will help the Americans overcome the civil division of the past five years is a moot point. Unlike some "King of the Tigers" (where a gay polymore could turn out to be a gun-obsessed redneck, and an animal-defender - a murderer), the picture of the world here is simplified as much as possible. The game is played with one goal, the principle of competition of the parties is not respected, and there is no room for civil dialogue (as, for example, in the artistic "Trial of the Chicago Seven"). Carefully selected simple-minded (and sometimes greedy, stupid and rude - it's all true) people continue to dishonor in front of the camera. Even the viewer who is horrified by the values ​​of these unintentional heroes will surely feel awkward for them. And in the worst case, it will feel superior.

However, there is some good news. First, Borat is still funny as a sitcom; Sasha Baron Cohen's improvisations are still sparkling; and his willingness to risk his health and safety is still admirable. Secondly, Cohen's recognition forced him to highlight the daughter of his hero - and the story of her emancipation, rebellion against the patriarchal system and testing herself with the American dream turned out to be excellent without any discounts - downright "Unorthodox", only with a bunch of smiles. Jokes aside, this is a real feminist parenting romance - honest, healthy and revealing a huge number of problems in society that Cohen did not get his hands on in 2006 (or there was simply no demand). A separate masterpiece is the pseudo-Disney cartoon “Melania”, built into the film, about a girl from Eastern Europe who marries Prince Trump with a large inheritance and a pair of chins.

Finally, Borat 2 really flourishes when it starts hunting dangerous political animals like the real Mike Pence or Rudolph Giuliani. The latter can and should get into trouble because of the movie. Actress Maria Bakalova, pretending to be a young journalist, takes pseudo-interviews from him in the frame, and then they find themselves in a hotel room stuffed with hidden cameras, and the elderly politician unequivocally expresses his readiness for sex. If "Borat 2" was entirely assembled from such buffoonery, journalistic and director's findings and revelations, the film would have no value. But, alas, he is too easily exchanged for convenient targets. His politically incorrect is extremely politically correct - and in history, such a clear triumph of the winners usually leads to an explosive resentment of the vanquished. And there is no time for jokes.

I hope you enjoy this comedy!

The photos used in this article are taken from the site www.google.com