Fourteen years after the release of “Borat,” Borat Sagdiyev returns to the United States from Kazakhstan, and this time he discovers more about American culture, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2020 elections.
The only way out is through. That was my new motto as I watched this sucker. Sacha Baron Cohen’s penchant for R-rated hijinks has proven an effective tool for satire time and time again. Films like “Borat,” “Bruno,” and his TV show, “Who Is America?” have unearthed a wealth of hate and prejudice as well as potential crime in a hairy-balls-dangling-in—your-face way. Baron’s greatest ability is not just to get access to high-value targets but also his ability to keep them in the room. This new outing, fourteen years after its original, delivers much of the same cringey interviews and zany sendups that end in truly horrific acts. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” aims at the lowest common denominator, but gains fresh narrative and comedic perspective with the addition of newcomer Maria Bakalova, in a world that’s too dark for satire anymore.
It takes guts to do what Baron does. Facing down a crowd of angry protesters at the RNC and shouting about civil liberties is not something I would ever want to do. How he manages to constantly stick himself into situations both laughable and dark prove his zeal for “exposing” bigots around him. The character Borat is a perfect vehicle for this kind of “journalism” as his aloof nature and thick accent give Americans enough doubt to offer their insight. Admittedly, Baron directs his cameras at average Americans much more than higher priority targets and while it may cause a laugh, at a certain point it becomes sad.
There’s a turning point about two-thirds of the way through where this movie stops being funny and starts to scare me. The news of his appearance at a March for Our Rights event in Olympia started the rumor mill of a new Borat movie so suffice to say, that singular scene stopped me cold. It simply wasn’t funny anymore, and coming back from something as shame-inducing as white supremacists saluting Hitler’s memory proved near impossible. Perhaps I view this whole thing with a little more intrigue than your casual viewer because I’m much more interested in how this movie was made at times.
Yes, Borat does his usual takedowns. He visits a female care clinic and pretends he inseminated his daughter; let’s see a rural white male pastor reconcile with that (we do.) Yes, he visits a debutante ball and grosses everyone out. Yes, he visits gun stores and animal feed shops and spends time in the woods isolating with QAnon conspiracy theorists. It’s all part and parcel of the Borat show. Maria Bakalova gets in on the action in a much similar fashion and exploits people’s vulnerabilities to expose their biases. Between the two of them, they skewer The American South, Republican Feminism, plastic surgery, social media influencers, and much much more.
Bakalova holds her own against Baron. It’s a smart move to introduce a female character. Her presence adds some combativeness to Borat’s inherent sexist, racist attitudes. In a bizarre twist of dramatic shock, Bakalova exposes the love an older black woman shows her after learning of the controlling “Kazakh” sexism. In an incredibly offensive and wildly duplicitous scene, grace is afforded Borat for his anti-semitism as a holocaust survivor not only proves the Holocaust was real but also that she is not a monster, but quite capable of love and affection. I seriously can’t make this up.
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” carries a sense of urgency on its heart, one missing from its predecessor. In an era of powerful radicalism, the everyday human succumbs to hate and fear that can never be wiped away, only shaped. This movie spends just a handful of minutes addressing the differences between the first and the second but it plays much like its ancestor. It’s the same old racists from the first, only empowered this time around, singing a song about chopping up journalists. Baron’s tactics of exposing hidden racism don’t quite work anymore simply because they are no longer hidden. It’s the same conceit “South Park” writers Matt Parker and Trey Stone have reiterated in their efforts to cancel their own show: Society is too hyperbolized to be satirized. Things are too insane to be made fun of. They are their own horrific jokes.
It’s worth noting that after the hilarious first half, the movie pivots to this dramatic urgency. Even as it highlights the March for our Rights Rally it gains one last guest: Rudy Giuliani. As I write this, I’m seeing headlines asking him to answer for his behavior in the movie. People might not want me to spoil this but I will say this: It is commendable to the courage of Maria Bakalova that she dove headfirst into a horribly nefarious situation and that Sacha Baron Cohen (I imagine) stood quickly by should it continue any further. That’s a very vague and useless description but bear that in mind when you get to that scene in the movie. I thought a lot less about Rudy Giuliani (who I’m sure will spin this every way he can, and escape unscathed) and a lot more about Bakalova who entered an extremely uncomfortable situation with every intention of exposing malfeasance.
At the end of the day, I feel weary. Borat’s jokes sparked riotous laughter and I couldn’t stop watching. Still, I feel utter shame and embarrassment for the everyday folks who thought they were doing Borat a service by helping him out and ended up in the most uncomfortable situations possible. It’s a wonder I feel any sympathy at all by the end of this movie. So delicately layered together in its edit, I felt swept up in its current by the end. Where the first movie felt sharp-edged, it now feels playful. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” shone a light on something we already recognized, but failed to confront face-to-face. This movie’s quick pivot into heart-of-darkness documentary demonstrates Baron’s urgency he’s related in all his speeches. Go vote. In his own words, democracy is a threat and this movie aims to demonstrate some of the reasons why. Would I recommend it? If you were a fan of the first you will love this one. If the mere trailer turns you off, do not go near this film.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video Friday, October 23rd
