Cultural Learnings ...

Saw Borat. Overall, it was hysterical. The opening scenes, I admit, were awkward, where Sacha Baron Cohen relies on demeaning misconceptions about developing countries and small towns. I couldn't really laugh at all that, in part because there are probably people out there who believe every little shtetl really does have its own lovable town rapist. But of course, the rest of the film only works because nobody Borat encounters knows anything about Kazakhstan. I had no problem laughing after the first ten minutes.

And geez, the people say the most shocking things. The drunk frat boys go on an unprovoked rant about the proper place of women and minorities; the rodeo owner goes on a homophobic, xenophobic tirade; the etiquette society members get up and leave when the (black) prostitute (fake, I'm pretty sure) arrives for the party. And it all works amazingly well, because in pretending Kazakhstan is a sexist, anti-semitic, homophobic, backwards place, Cohen is able to get self-righteous Americans to unknowingly expose those elements in themselves.

There are people, like the driving instructor, the humor coach, and the car salesman, who don't come off so badly. Mainly because you can see in their faces how they decide to just do their job and not react to the particular weirdness that Cohen throws at them.

The whole thing isn't just interviews intended to get red state folks to embarrass the U.S., though. There's a loose plot involving an obsession with Pamela Anderson, and some of the scenes were obviously faked (like the Jewish couple, the prostitute, and Pamela Anderson). At least all logic points to those ones being faked, but maybe I was overthinking it. Along the way, there's also a bizarre nude scene.

My favorite line, though, has to be when Borat is at the rodeo and shouts into the microphone in his fake accent that Kazakhstan "supports your war of terror," and people cheer. That took guts. I don't know how Cohen didn't laugh or cry while filming the movie, but I'll give a fellow history dork mad acting props.

I still like Ali G better, though.