Borat’s sequel may well be the comedy of the year

/

Contributed image

Who needs religion when you have Sasha Baron Cohen? Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstanโ€”also known as Borat 2โ€”was released Oct. 23 over Amazon Prime Video.

To say the leastโ€”although I am extremely biasedโ€”Borat 2 is genius.

The film is riddled with Cohenโ€™s predictable anti-Semitic and misogynistic satirical humour. But since Iโ€™m already lacking in employable traits, it would make no difference to make matters worse. Iโ€™ll leave the interpretation of these jokes up to you.

The film is alsoโ€”in the most round-about way possibleโ€”progressive. Cohen ponders many of the most relevant social issues troubling our society today. Of course, this is done in a backwards, satirical fashion, yet the humour does not rob the film of its intended message.

Cohenโ€™s sequel has a noticeable shift in tonality compared to his first film. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm takes the cause of womenโ€™s rights into play, contrasting the treatment and expectations of women in America and Kazakhstan.

Throughout the film, Borat and his daughter Tutar begin to develop a heartwarming father-daughter relationshipโ€”one that any sensible psychologist would label as โ€œproblematic.โ€ But through this relationship comes realization and compassion towards the rights and decisions of his daughter. 

So although Tutar is floored by the sight of a woman driving a car and spends the majority of the film aspiring to sleep in a cage โ€œlike Melaniaโ€, Borat begins to recognize that he wants more for his daughter than to simply gift her to Vice President โ€œMichael Penisโ€ as a wife.

Unlike Boratโ€™s first film, the sequel is much more politically motivated. Borat attends a pro-Trump rally and finds himself questioning theโ€”blatantly falseโ€”information given to his country by the government.

Any film that finds clever ways of mocking Republican America will always be a success in my books. Towards the end of the filmโ€”spoiler!โ€”former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani (seemingly) gets himself prepped to have sex with Boratโ€™s daughter, who was previously shown to be fifteen years old.

โ€œSheโ€™s only fifteen! She is too old for you,โ€ Borat interjects, saving the twenty-four year old actress from Rudyโ€™s booty. And although Giuliani has defended his immoral behaviourโ€”fumbling around with his genitals in the presence of a teenagerโ€”as simply โ€œtucking in his shirtโ€, itโ€™s hard not to see his Epstein-esque gesture as suspicious. 

Borat also makes friends with two Democrat-loathing Americans in an effort to help him along his โ€œmissionโ€, and although these menโ€™s views on politics and the world are laughably horrifying, itโ€™s hard not to root for the success of their relationship with Cohenโ€™s character. He even reconciles his relationship with the Jewish communityโ€”kind of.

As well, Itโ€™s a heartwarming film at times. I wonโ€™t deny that even I teared up a little when Borat invited his daughter out of her cage and into his trailer to spend the night on a pile of hay. When a relationship is previously defined by neglect and ignorance, itโ€™s always sweet when the authoritative figure finally comes around to express some compassionโ€”even when itโ€™s Borat.

Behind all the racism, misogyny and anti-Semitism is an important message to American society: respect people and wear your damn mask. 

Itโ€™s raunchy, inappropriate and likely to offend your mother, but itโ€™s impossible to deny that this film isnโ€™t the funniest piece of content to be released in 2020. Immediately after the opening credits, my atrociously inaccurateโ€”yet extremely common throughout my immediate social circleโ€”Borat accent was beginning to show.

Thankfully, my family is well prepared. โ€œI donโ€™t want to hear the voice,โ€ my father had explained during one of my lengthy rants on why Borat 2 would be even better than the original. 

So, please, go see the movie. It was the first film granted approval for filming amidst COVID-19 restrictions and will absolutely give you a much needed laugh.


Leave a Reply

Serving the Waterloo campus, The Cord seeks to provide students with relevant, up to date stories. Weโ€™re always interested in having more volunteer writers, photographers and graphic designers.