Borat Subsequent Moviefilm:
Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Year: 2020
Director: Jason Woliner
Starring: Maria Bakalova & Sacha Baron Cohen
Runtime: 96 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 04/11/20
Director: Jason Woliner
Starring: Maria Bakalova & Sacha Baron Cohen
Runtime: 96 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 04/11/20
The original Borat film pissed off a lot of people and it also gave Sacha Baron Cohen international notoriety. Many people were crying out for a sequel shortly after its release so they could see Cohen and his low-brow sense of satire perform more crude and offensive pranks. Cohen stated many times however that he was retiring the character as he was too easily recognisable as Borat, so therefore he wouldn’t be able to get the same kind of reactions from people as he did the first time because they would likely catch on to the gag much faster. Understandable reasoning, and so the character laid dormant for fourteen years.
Dormant until he reappeared recently on Amazon Prime for the sequel that would supposedly never happen. Filmed in secret earlier this year, it appeared as though the world still clamoured for more Borat and Cohen found a way to deliver it. But is it just as overrated as the first film?
Borat Subesequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan opens with Borat explaining that following the success of the original film he became an international celebrity, but that Kazakhstan was none too happy as to how he made them look to the rest of the world. As a result he has been imprisoned until now where he has been sent on a mission to deliver a gift to U.S Vice President Mike Pence. When he arrives in the U.S he finds that the intended gift, a monkey, has actually been eaten by his daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova), who stowed away in the shipping container. As such, Borat plans to give Mike Pence his daughter as a gift, instead of the initially planned monkey.
In order to do this Tutar must undergo a makeover, and Borat must go undercover as he is too easily recognised by U.S citizens. Various pranks and cultural misunderstandings ensue.
For the most part the film stumbles at the same hurdles the first film did, that it is usually intentionally offensive or vulgar to illicit a reaction from both those being pranked and the viewer. This is not satire, no matter how much the film seems to think it is. But it is not as vulgar as the original film is. No running around naked in hotels for example. Instead the film relies more on the ‘cultural misunderstanding’ humour where Borat or Tutar will be having a conversation with someone and they will intentionally misunderstand what the person is saying for comedic results, or reveal social prejudices and discriminatory views held by the people they are talking to.
In general the film is funnier than the original was and I feel it’s because it allows for more of these moments where the person caught up in the prank leads the scene. Even when these people aren’t made out to be the bad guy they are funny, such as a babysitter that is hired to take care of Tutar for a few scenes. The way she reacts to Tutar and the advice she gives her is both funny, yet endearing because she honestly wants to help his girl who she believes is in danger.
The film culminates in two big pranks, the first on Mike Pence and the second on Rudi Giuliani. The Mike Pence prank is very funny and showcases the serious security flaws in place at these huge political rallies. Whereas the Rudi Giuliani scene is significantly smaller in scale, but a much more risk vs reward payoff when it succeeds. I’m sure some of you may have seen the controversy surrounding Giuliani’s behaviour during the scene and it does live up to the hype. It’s a moment that’ll likely be remembered for a long time and is potentially damaging to the Republican Party’s image.
Dormant until he reappeared recently on Amazon Prime for the sequel that would supposedly never happen. Filmed in secret earlier this year, it appeared as though the world still clamoured for more Borat and Cohen found a way to deliver it. But is it just as overrated as the first film?
Borat Subesequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan opens with Borat explaining that following the success of the original film he became an international celebrity, but that Kazakhstan was none too happy as to how he made them look to the rest of the world. As a result he has been imprisoned until now where he has been sent on a mission to deliver a gift to U.S Vice President Mike Pence. When he arrives in the U.S he finds that the intended gift, a monkey, has actually been eaten by his daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova), who stowed away in the shipping container. As such, Borat plans to give Mike Pence his daughter as a gift, instead of the initially planned monkey.
In order to do this Tutar must undergo a makeover, and Borat must go undercover as he is too easily recognised by U.S citizens. Various pranks and cultural misunderstandings ensue.
For the most part the film stumbles at the same hurdles the first film did, that it is usually intentionally offensive or vulgar to illicit a reaction from both those being pranked and the viewer. This is not satire, no matter how much the film seems to think it is. But it is not as vulgar as the original film is. No running around naked in hotels for example. Instead the film relies more on the ‘cultural misunderstanding’ humour where Borat or Tutar will be having a conversation with someone and they will intentionally misunderstand what the person is saying for comedic results, or reveal social prejudices and discriminatory views held by the people they are talking to.
In general the film is funnier than the original was and I feel it’s because it allows for more of these moments where the person caught up in the prank leads the scene. Even when these people aren’t made out to be the bad guy they are funny, such as a babysitter that is hired to take care of Tutar for a few scenes. The way she reacts to Tutar and the advice she gives her is both funny, yet endearing because she honestly wants to help his girl who she believes is in danger.
The film culminates in two big pranks, the first on Mike Pence and the second on Rudi Giuliani. The Mike Pence prank is very funny and showcases the serious security flaws in place at these huge political rallies. Whereas the Rudi Giuliani scene is significantly smaller in scale, but a much more risk vs reward payoff when it succeeds. I’m sure some of you may have seen the controversy surrounding Giuliani’s behaviour during the scene and it does live up to the hype. It’s a moment that’ll likely be remembered for a long time and is potentially damaging to the Republican Party’s image.
My biggest issue with Borat 2 is that it seems to forget that it’s trying to be a documentary at various points throughout the film, particularly in the latter portion of the film where Borat stops narrating or addressing the audience directly and a structured narrative begins to take centre stage. At this point what is genuine and what is staged becomes increasingly difficult to decipher because it looks so much more planned and professionally filmed than anything in the first film, and even many sections from the first half of the film. The fact that the film cannot stick to its premise as a documentary for the entire duration proves the filmmakers were really starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of content and ideas, and as a result it calls into question whether this film needed to exist in the first place.
Part of what strikes me as odd about a new Borat film’s existence is that it has come at a time where politics and society are so difficult to satirise because the public are so aware that our leaders are nothing but a joke. What’s funny isn’t necessarily what Cohen & Bakalova say or do, but the people they interact with are funny because they are so delusional about what they believe. We live in a society where many satirical comedians and storytellers with much greater skill than Cohen have stated that they find it near impossible to satirise current events because the events in themselves are the joke. There’s no way they can spin it to make it funnier, because it’s already as funny as it is.
Borat also addresses the COVID-19 pandemic, but not in a satirical way. Instead it attempts to blame Kazakhstan for the virus and Borat is the man who is spreading it around the world. It seems like an extremely rushed and haphazardly implemented last minute addition to the script and does quite literally close the film out. I can see what they were trying to go for with the joke but it doesn’t really stick the landing.
On the whole I feel like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is better than the original film, but only marginally. I still feel that the film is only designed to appeal to thirteen year old boys who laugh at things because they are made to offend. But I will give praise to the attempt at trying to include more pranks and jokes that are less about offensive material and more about allowing the person being pranked to take the lead. I will also say that Maria Bakalova delivers a good performance as Tutar and is usually more entertaining than Cohen is. It’s a film I struggle to recommend, but it’s far from the worst thing that’s happened in 2020.
Part of what strikes me as odd about a new Borat film’s existence is that it has come at a time where politics and society are so difficult to satirise because the public are so aware that our leaders are nothing but a joke. What’s funny isn’t necessarily what Cohen & Bakalova say or do, but the people they interact with are funny because they are so delusional about what they believe. We live in a society where many satirical comedians and storytellers with much greater skill than Cohen have stated that they find it near impossible to satirise current events because the events in themselves are the joke. There’s no way they can spin it to make it funnier, because it’s already as funny as it is.
Borat also addresses the COVID-19 pandemic, but not in a satirical way. Instead it attempts to blame Kazakhstan for the virus and Borat is the man who is spreading it around the world. It seems like an extremely rushed and haphazardly implemented last minute addition to the script and does quite literally close the film out. I can see what they were trying to go for with the joke but it doesn’t really stick the landing.
On the whole I feel like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is better than the original film, but only marginally. I still feel that the film is only designed to appeal to thirteen year old boys who laugh at things because they are made to offend. But I will give praise to the attempt at trying to include more pranks and jokes that are less about offensive material and more about allowing the person being pranked to take the lead. I will also say that Maria Bakalova delivers a good performance as Tutar and is usually more entertaining than Cohen is. It’s a film I struggle to recommend, but it’s far from the worst thing that’s happened in 2020.