Borat is just joking

Screenwriter Sasha Baron Cohen created a dangerous character Borat in both cheeks kissed the Air Force journalist and called the “Lozh from Kazakhstan” advertisements in newspapers, which claim that women are equal in this country. After the recording of the interview, which will precede the film output on a wide screen in the London West end, was completed, the journalist, left alone in the studio, laughed. “I just could not resist,” she said.

Critics complacfully about the film by Sasha Baron Cohen “Borat: the study of American culture for the good of the glorious people of Kazakhstan”. As we know, the film has nothing to do with Kazakhstan. His scenes were shot in Romania, and Borat himself does not know a word in Kazakh. By the way, he himself speaks in Hebrew, from time to time inserting an exclamation of clearly Slavic origin into the speech.

When you watch a film, by the way too tight, one problem arises: is it all anti -Semitism? Some say that this simply cannot be - in the end, Baron Cohen himself is a Jew. But I do not want to say that he personally is an anti -Semite, rather, a released film can aggravate anti -Semitic sentiments.

When Borat claims that Kazakhstan has changed because “homosexuals should no longer wear blue hats,” we laugh, but not at homosexuals. When he came to America to preliminary show the film, he said: "I would like to meet with the fearless enemy of all Jews Melvin Gibson." Of course, this joke is aimed at the poor fellow. But how many postmodern irony can we swallow before we start consuming a direct text directly opposite to our meaning?

It is amazing that some Jews did not at all feel offended by the film. After preliminary viewing at the Haifa Film Festival, the audience got up and applauded. “I am also a Jewish, and for me what he did seem very destructive,” said Naomi Alderman, screenwriter, whose work was repeatedly awarded the prizes. - Because while he said all these things about Jews, he spoke in Hebrew. I got the impression that he turned to each present and began to wink, as if soothing: everything is fine, I did not mean it at all. ”

No, of course, did not. But the words remained, like the hero who pronounces them. It would be very useful to compare Borat Sagdiev with Ali Ji - a character who made Sasha Baron Cohen famous. It seems to me that only yesterday I wrote about how ridiculous he was, and they asked me: who is it? Seven or eight years ago, Ali Ji spoke in one now forgotten program called “Eleven -hour show” - it was ideal for people returning from a pub.

We laughed because Ali Ji ridiculed those who interviewed him. He said Tony Benna: “Mine wants to work when mine wants. But my more time wants to get bored, mine wants to drag on bitch ... ”To which Benn answered very seriously:“ You are so disrespectful about women ... You don’t want to work, you call women bitch and after all you ask about a society where everyone is happy! ”

Ali Ji also ridiculed himself (they say that he was very affected by the son of a priest and absurd master DJ Tim Westwood, who uses the Jamaician dialect in radio programs). We, spectators, knew that these swaggering guys with gangsters, distorting their native language, were simply ridiculous, but we were afraid to laugh at them at a meeting on the street. But in the soft safety of the sofa, seeing them on TV, we could die as much as you like, watching them, that is, Ali Ji, and no one had been dealt with.

The same can be said about the goals of the last film. In one episode, Borat asks the seller in a weapon store: "What is the best way to shoot at Jews?" He is recommended for a 9-mm pistol. And here Borat again returns to the most controversial territory, which he created in the television series "Guide Borat in the United States." In a village club in a taxon, Arizona, Borat sings his signature song to the listeners in cowboy hats and boots. At first it seems that this is just a Kazakh song about mechanized transport, but then Borat makes all those present sing with him. And so they sing: "Throw the Jew down into the well,/ so that my country is free./ He needs to twist the horns,/ And then we will have a holiday."

Some of the lovers of country style seem to be ashamed. And others sing along with pleasure. Maybe they hate Jews. Maybe they don’t give a damn about the “inadequate” behavior. If this is a mirror that was brought to the face of modern America, it shows a disgusting image.

Sasha Baron Cohen is a modern follower of the screenwriter Johnny Spate, who created the satirical image of the grumpy,, inveterate racist Alpha Garnett. Of course, there is a danger that people will love Borat, how they fell in love with Elf. And in the USA, and, perhaps, in the UK, Borat's views will turn into public opinion. But still I am sure that this will not happen. Borat, like Elf Garnett, is very funny. So let's not panic. We can still distinguish a joke from the “beer coup”. Isn't it?

10/29/2006 / Christopher House, the material was published in the newspaper No. 198 dated 10/30/2006.