Borat the Movie

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Info and Spoiler

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, often shortened to Borat, is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles. It stars A British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a fictitious Kazakh journalist, traveling through the US recording real life interactions with Americans. It is the second film built around one of Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show, following Ali G Indahouse, which also featured a cameo by Borat.

It was a critical and commercial success, despite initially limited release in the US. Cohen won the 2007 Golden Globe award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy as Borat while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture in the same category. Borat was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 79th Academy Awards but lost to The Departed.

Controversy surrounded the film even before its release. It has been criticized for having a protagonist who is sexist and anti-Semitic (Cohen is Jewish himself), and some who have appeared in the film have criticized and even sued its creators. All Arab nations other than Lebanon banned it, and the Russian government successfully discouraged theaters there from showing it. It was released on DVD March 5, 2007 (a day later in Region 1 countries).

Written by Sacha Baron Cohen
Peter Baynham
Anthony Hines
Dan Mazer
Todd Phillips
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen
Ken Davitian
Luenell
Pamela Anderson
Music by Erran Baron Cohen
Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot

Borat and Azamat meet with a fictitious Kazakh Ministry of Information, which commissions them to make a documentary.Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen), a popular Kazakh television personality, leaves his homeland for the 'Greatest Country in the World' "US and A" to make a documentary at the behest of the fictitious Kazakh Ministry of Information. He leaves behind his mother, his wife Oksana and the town rapist, bringing along his producer Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian). Much of the movie features unscripted vignettes of Borat interviewing and interacting with Americans who believe he is an actual foreigner with no understanding of American customs.

While in New York, he sees an episode of Baywatch on tv and immediately falls in love with Pamela Anderson. He pumps a panel of feminists for info on her, learning her name and that she lives in California. He receives a telegram and learns, much to his delight, that his violent wife has been violated and killed by a bear. He resolves to go to California to 'have' Anderson's "vagine" and make her his new wife. Borat and Azamat were supposed to remain in New York, but Borat justifies the trip to Azamat by telling the skeptical producer that "Pearl Harbor is there (California) and so is Texas". As Azamat is afraid to fly there for fear of a repetition of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which he believes were the work of the Jews, Borat takes driving lessons and buys a dilapidated ice cream van for the journey.

During a cross country trip, Borat acquires a Baywatch tv show booklet at a garage sale, and continues gathering footage for his documentary. He meets gay pride parade participants, politicians (including Alan Keyes and Bob Barr) and African American youths playing Cee-lo. He is also interviewed on live tv and proceeds to disrupt the weather report. Visiting a rodeo, the reporter sings a fictional Kazahkstan national anthem to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner". He receives a strong negative reaction for that rendition, made after first exciting the crowd with his jingoistic pro-US. rhetoric. Staying at a bed and breakfast Borat and his producer are stunned to learn that their hosts are Jewish. Fearful of death (or worse) at the hands of their hosts, the two "escape" after throwing money toward cockroaches which they believe are their Jewish hosts self transformed. While Azamat advises a return to New York (where at least, he believes, there are no Jews), Borat attempts to purchase a handgun to defend himself against Jews. When told he cannot buy a gun because he is not an American citizen, Borat purchases a bear, which he names after his late wife, for protection.

Borat later attends a private dinner at an eating club in the South, at which he insults or otherwise offends the other guests, and visits an antique shop with a display of Confederate heritage items, breaking glass and crockery.

The journey is interrupted when Borat, fresh out of the bathtub, exits the bathroom of his hotel room and sees Azamat masturbating while looking at a picture of Pamela Anderson in the Baywatch book. Borat becomes enraged and discloses his real reason for traveling to California. Things escalate into a fully nude brawl, suggested to have homoerotic undertones, which spills out into the hallway, a crowded elevator, and ultimately into a packed ballroom filled with mortgage brokers at a convention. The two are finally separated by security.

As a result, Azamat abandons Borat, taking his passport, all of their money, and their bear, whose head is later seen inside a motel refrigerator. Borat begins to hitchhike to California, but is soon picked up by Anthony, Justin and David, drunken University of South Carolina fraternity brothers. Upon learning the reason for his trip, they show him the Pam and Tommy sex video, revealing that she is not the virgin he thought she was. After leaving the three students, Borat becomes despondent, burning the Baywatch booklet and, by mistake, his return ticket to Kazakhstan. He regains his faith after attending a United Pentecostal camp meeting, at which Republican U.S. Representative Chip Pickering and current Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice James W. Smith, Jr. are present. He learns to forgive Azamat and Pamela. He accompanies church members on a bus to Los Angeles and disembarks to find Azamat dressed as Oliver Hardy (though Borat thinks that he is dressed as Hitler). The two reconcile and Azamat tells Borat where to find Pamela Anderson.

Borat finally comes face to face with Anderson at a book signing at a Virgin Megastore. After showing Anderson his traditional marriage sack, Borat pursues her through the store in an attempt to abduct her until he is tackled and handcuffed by security guards. Afterwards, Borat seeks out and marries a prostitute named Luenell, whom he had befriended earlier in the film, and returns to Kazakhstan with her. The final scene shows changes in Borat's observations in America have brought to his village, including a apparent conversion of the people to Christianity (the Kazakh version of which includes crucifixion of Jews) and the introduction of computer based technology, such as iPods and laptop computers.

Deleted scenes
The DVD included several deleted scenes from the film, including Borat being questioned by police officers at a traffic stop, visiting an animal shelter to get a dog to protect him from Jews, getting a massage at a hotel, and visiting an American doctor. There is also a montage of scenes cut from the film, including Borat taking a job at Krystal and taking part in a Civil War reenactment. The deleted scenes menu also includes an actual local TV news report about Borat's rodeo singing and a final "happy ending" scene about Borat appearing in a Kazakh show entitled "Sexydrownwatch', a Baywatch clone which also starred Azamat, Luenell, and Alexandra Paul.

Dan Mazer confirmed in an interview that there was a scene cut from the film in which Borat took part in the shooting of an actual pornographic film. He claimed the scene was cut for fears of excess alongside the naked hotel fight, although he had then anticipated it may be included on the DVD release.

Spoilers end here.

Production
With the exception of Borat, Azamat, Luenell and Pamela Anderson, none of the characters are portrayed by actors. Most scenes in the film were unscripted, although the end credits do credit a Naked Fight Coordinator. In most cases the film's participants were given no warning on what they would be taking part in except for being asked to sign release forms agreeing not to take legal action against the film's producers. Filming was already underway in January 2005, when Cohen caused a near riot in what would ultimately be the rodeo scene in the final cut of the film. An interview with Cohen by Rolling Stone indicated that over 400 hours of footage had been shot for the film, while IMDb states that during this time Borat's antics led to police being called on Cohen 91 times.

The Kazakhstan depicted in the film has little or no relationship with the actual country and the producers explictly deny attempting to "convey the actual beliefs, practices or behavior of anyone associated with Kazakhstan" in the "all persons fictitious" disclaimer. The scenes showing Borat's home village were filmed in the village of Glod, Romania. The name of Borat's neighbor, Nursultan Tulyakbay, is a cross between the names of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and opposition politician Zharmakhan Tuyakbay. The end credits appear to be taken from Soviet-era Estonian TV commercials, and the man represented at the end of the sequence as Kazakhstan's leader is in reality Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev.

No Kazakh language is heard in the film. Borat's neighbors in Kazakhstan were portrayed by Romanians who were unaware of the film's subject. The Cyrillic alphabet used in the film is the Russian form, not the Kazakh one, although words written in it (especially the geographical names) are either misspelled, or make no sense at all. The lettering on the airplane in the beginning of the film is in fact merely the result of English characters on a reversed image, while promotional materials spell "BOR?T" with a Cyrillic letter for D substituted for the "A" in Faux Cyrillic style typically used to give a "Russian" appearance. Sacha Baron Cohen speaks Hebrew in the film, while Ken Davitian, who plays Azamat, speaks the Eastern dialect of Armenian under his breath. They also use several common phrases from Slavic languages: Borat's trademark expressions "jagshemash" (jak sie masz) and "chenquieh" (dziekuje) come apparently from Polish (or other related languages) for "How are you?" and "thank you".

Screenings and release
Previews
Ratings
Argentina: 13
Australia: MA (M at the cinemas)
Brazil: 16
Finland: K-15
France: U
Germany: 12
Hong Kong: II B
Iceland: 12
Ireland: 16
Italy: VM14
Malaysia: Banned
Mexico: B15
Netherlands: 12
New Zealand: R16
Philippines: R-18
Poland: 18
Portugal: M/12
Singapore: R21
South Korea: 18
Sweden: BTL
United Kingdom: 15
US: R
Borat was previewed at the 2006 Comic Con International in San Diego, California on July 21, 2006. Its first screening to a paying audience was during the 2006 Traverse City Film Festival, where it won the Excellence in Filmmaking Award.

The film's official debut was in Toronto on September 7, 2006 at the Ryerson University Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival. Sacha Baron Cohen arrived in character as Borat in a cart pulled by women dressed as peasants. Twenty minutes into the showing, however, the projector broke. Cohen performed a impromptu act to keep the audience amused, but ultimately all attempts to fix the equipment, including one by Michael Moore, failed. The film was successfully screened the following night, with Dustin Hoffman in attendance.

In Israel, a proposed poster depicting Borat in a mankini was rejected by the film's advertising firm in favour of one showing him in a normal suit.

Scaled back US release
In late October 2006, less than two weeks before the film's debut, Twentieth Century Fox scaled back American release from about 2,000 to 800 cinemas after marketing survey data showed unexpectedly poor levels of audience awareness. The move surprised industry professionals, who could not recall such a move being made so close to a film's release. Despite this move, the film opened at number 1 in the box office, maintaining first place for two weeks straight. The film actually earned more in the second week ($28,269,900) than in the first ($26,455,463), due to an expansion onto 2,566 screens.

Film release
Borat entered public release on November 1, 2006 in Belgium, and by November 3, 2006 it had opened in the US and Canada as well as 14 European countries. Upon its release it was a massive hit, taking in US$ 26.4 million in its opening weekend, the highest ever in the US and Canada for a film released in fewer than 1,000 cinemas. On its second weekend, Borat surpassed its opening with a total of US$ 29 million.

Commercial
American audiences embraced the film, which played to sold-out crowds at many showings on its opening despite having been shown on only 837 screens, wildly surpassing its competition which was shown on 3,500 screens.

Borat debuted to No.1 on its opening weekend with a total gross of $26.4 million, beating its competitors Flushed Away and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. The film's opening weekend's theatre average was an estimated $31,511, topping Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest yet behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and SpiderMan. It retained the top spot in its second weekend after expanding to 2,566 theatres, extending the box office total to $67.8 million.

In the UK, Borat opened at number 1, with an opening weekend gross of £6,242,344 ($11,935,986), the 43rd best opening week earnings in the UK as of March 2007. Since its release, Borat has grossed over $257 million worldwide.

Nominations and awards
Borat received a nomination at the 79th Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, although a award ultimately went to The Departed. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award under the category of Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy, but lost to Dreamgirls. The Broadcast Film Critics Association named it the Best Comedy Movie of 2006, and the Writers Guild of America, west nominated it for their award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Cohen, as Borat, won a Golden Globe for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy.[ He received equivalent awards from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Utah Film Critics Association, the Toronto Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Society. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association tied Cohen with Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland for their title of Best Actor, while the former was nominated for the title by the London Film Critics Circle.

Possible sequels
A third film by Cohen is currently in production, this one based on the character Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion reporter. Universal Studios is reported to be producing the film with a budget of $42 million.

Rupert Murdoch announced in early February 2007 Baron Cohen had signed on to do another Borat film with Fox. This was contradicted, however, by a interview with Cohen himself stating Borat was to be discontinued, as he was now too well known to avoid detection as he did in the film and on Da Ali G Show. A spokesman for Fox later stated that it was too early to begin planning such a film, although they were open to the idea.

Controversies

Participants' response
Prior to being considered for appearance in the film, all potential participants were required to sign long release forms agreeing not to take legal action for any defamation of character or fraud carried out during the film's production. The usual disclaimer included at the end of the film's credits, stating that all characters in the film were fictitious, also noted that "No real person depicted or appearing in the film has sponsored or otherwise endorsed its contents."

After the movie's release, Dharma Arthur, a news producer for WAPT television in Jackson, Mississippi, wrote a letter to Newsweek saying that Borat's appearance on the station had led to her losing her job: "Because of him, my boss lost faith in my abilities and second-guessed everything I did thereafter... How upsetting that a man who leaves so much harm in his path is lauded as a comedic genius." She claims to have checked a public relations website that Borat's producers gave her before booking him.

In January 2005 news coverage of the filming of the rodeo scene, Bobby Rowe, producer of the Salem, Virginia rodeo depicted in the movie, provided background on how he had become the victim of a hoax. He said months prior to the appearance, he had been approached by someone from "One America, a California based film company reportedly doing a documentary on a Russian immigrant"; he agreed to permit the "immigrant" to sing the national anthem after listening to a tape. After the film's release, Rowe said "Some people come up and say, 'Hey, you made the big time'; I've made the big time, but not in the way I want it." Rowe had expressed distrust of Muslims and advocated the execution of homosexuals in the film. In early 2007, following the seasonal opening of the rodeo, Rowe, who said he had no regrets, invited the ambassador of Kazakhstan to appear at the rodeo.

Etiquette expert Cindy Streit of Birmingham, Alabama said prior to Borat's visit, she thought it would be a "wonderful opportunity to display some of our positive strengths. I'm proud to be an American, so I wanted to show this man our gracious Southern hospitality"; instead, the visit became "the dinner party from hell." Republican fund-raiser Sarah Moseley said, "He insulted all of us, but we sat there and took it because we thought we were really going to make a difference. So we were angry when we found out that we had been duped." Streit has subsequently hired high profile attorney Gloria Allred, who is demanding the California Attorney General investigate "fraud" allegedly committed by Cohen and the film's producers. By contrast, the guest whom Borat had described as a "retard" after "misunderstanding" a statement that he was retired, commented that "we got out of this pretty clean."

There are conflicting reports regarding the feelings of the participants of the scenes in which Borat and Azamat stay at a guest house owned by a Jewish couple. The British newspaper The Sun claims that a scene showing cockroaches running around in their home has hurt Mariam and Joseph Behar's business in Newton, Massachusetts. The couple were quoted as saying: "This is very insulting. They never told us they were going to do this. It is really terrible." However, the Salon Arts & Entertainment site quotes the Behars as calling the film "outstanding," referring to Cohen as "very lovely and very polite" and a "genius."

The feminists from Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) also felt that they had been duped, having "sensed something odd was going on" before and during the interview with Borat. The Guardian later reported at least one of the women felt the film was worth going to see at the cinema.

The New York Post had reported in November 2006 that Pamela Anderson allegedly filed for divorce from her husband Kid Rock after he reacted unfavorably to the movie during a screening.

Legal action by participants
The villagers of Glod, Dâmbovita County, Romania have taken legal action against the producers of Borat, complaining they were lied to about the nature of the filming and they were portrayed as incestuous and ignorant. Some claimed they were paid only three lei (less than 1 USD) each, while others stated they were paid between $70 and $100 each, which still did not even cover their expenses.

Two of the University of South Carolina fraternity brothers who appeared in the film, Justin Seay and Christopher Rotunda, have sued the producers, claiming the film defamed them.The suit was dismissed in February 2007. The students also had sought an injunction to prevent the DVD release of the film, which was denied.

Another lawsuit was filed by a South Carolina resident who claimed to have been accosted by Cohen (as Borat) in the bathroom at a restaurant in downtown Columbia, with the actor allegedly making comments regarding the individual's genitals, without signing any legal waiver. The lawsuit also sought to have the footage excluded from any DVD releases and removed from Internet sites.

The Macedonian Romani singer Esma Redžepova also sued the film's producers, seeking €800,000 on the grounds that the film used her song "Chaje Šukarije" without permission.

Criticism by Kazakhstan
Borat has had a history of controversy with the Kazakh government. In 2005, following Borat's appearance at the MTV Movie Awards, the country's Foreign Ministry threatened to sue Sacha Baron Cohen, while Borat's Kazakh-based website, www.borat.kz, was taken down. In September 2006 the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev visited President of the US George W. Bush for talks, with Kazakhstan's post Borat international image among the items on the agenda. Kazakhstan also launched a multi-million dollar "Heart of Eurasia" campaign to counter the Borat effect; Baron Cohen replied by denouncing the campaign at a in character press conference in front of the White House as the propaganda of the "evil nitwits" of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is, through the film, referred to by Borat as his nation's leading problem.

Kazakhstan has not, banned the film, having merely urged it not be distributed. 20th Century Fox's distribution subsidiary in the region, Gemini Films, complied.

The Kazakhstani newspaper Karavan declared Borat to be the best film of the year, having had a reviewer see the film at a screening in Vienna. The paper claimed that the film was "...certainly not an anti-Kazakh, anti-Romanian or anti-Semitic" but rather "cruelly anti-American... ...amazingly funny and sad at the same time." Another favorable word came from Kazakh novelist Sapabek Asip-uly, who suggested Cohen be nominated for the annual award bestowed by the Kazakh Club of Art Patrons. In a letter published by the newspaper Vremya, Asip-uly wrote, "(Borat) has managed to spark an immense interest of the whole world in Kazakhstan — something our authorities could not do during the years of independence. If state officials completely lack a sense of humor, their country becomes a laughing stock." Amazon UK has also reported significant numbers of orders of Borat on DVD in Kazakhstan.

Accusations of racism
The European Center for Antiziganism Research, which works against negative attitudes toward Roma people, filed a complaint with German prosecutors on October 18, 2006, based on Borat's comments about Gypsies in his film. The complaint accuses him of defamation and inciting violence against an ethnic group. As a consequence, 20th Century Fox declared it would remove all parts referring to Roma people from trailers shown on German tv as well as on the movie's website.

Prior to the release of the film, the Anti Defamation League released a statement expressing concern over Borat's characteristic anti-Semitism. While Cohen himself is Jewish and stated he uses Borat to expose the prejudices felt or tolerated by others, the organization remained concerned some audiences might remain oblivious to this aspect of the film's humor while "some may even find it reinforcing their bigotry."

Censorship
The State Movie Commission of Russia (Goskino) recommended theaters not screen Borat, citing "insulting remarks toward some ethnic groups and religions" as the reason. Russia contains some 650,000 ethnic Kazakhs in addition to thousands of Jews and Romas (Gypsies). The movie became a first non pornographic movie so treated in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The film was banned in multiple countries in the Middle East. Yousuf Abdul Hamid, a film censor for the UAE commented on the film “It’s vile, gross and extremely ridiculous, wholly unsuitable for UAE audiences." The censor also noted he and his collegues had actually walked out on their screening before it had ended, claiming “We all left because the film was extremely offensive and void of any story, substance or even comedy".

Cast:
Cohen, in character as Borat, at the Cologne premiere of the motion picture.Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev. Borat is a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan, distinguished by exaggeratedly strong misogyny, anti-Semitism and antiziganism, which is apparently the norm in his homeland. Borat was originally created as a character for Da Ali G Show and had appeared in every episode of the show.
Ken Davitian as Azamat Bagatov. The producer of Borat's documentary. Azamat was a new character created for the film. Davitian, as "The fat guy from Borat", was included at 2 on a list of "The 100 Unsexiest Men" by the Boston Phoenix.
Luenell as Luenell the prostitute. Luenell is the third and last completely fictional character in the film. She is first seen when Borat calls her to come to the Southern dinner, the climax of his effective crashing of the event.
Pamela Anderson. Pamela Anderson plays a central role in the film as the reason for the journalist's cross country journey. She also appears in person at the end of the film, as herself, in a staged botched abduction attempt by Borat.

Soundtrack
Main article: Stereophonic Musical Listenings That Have Been Origin in Moving Film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
The soundtrack for Borat was released on October 24, 2006 on iTunes Store, and October 31, 2006 in shops. The album included music from the film, five tracks consisting of and titled "Dialoguing excerpt from moviefilm", as well as the controversial anti-Semitic song "In My Country There is Problem" from Da Ali G Show.

DVD release

The region 2 Borat DVD in faux pirate style. The region 1 release lacked the rating symbols and company logos. The region 2 DVD was released March 5, 2007, with the region 1 release the next day. Special features include deleted scenes, faux advertisements for the soundtrack album, and a complete Russian language translation audio track using a professional dubbing cast, in addition to the English, French, and Spanish language tracks common on Region 1 (US/Canada) DVDs. There is also a choice of Hebrew as well, but this is merely a joke.

As a play on the intellectual property piracy common in the former Soviet Union, the packaging of the region 1 and region 2 editions mimics a foreign bootleg DVD. The slipcover is in English but the case itself has all-Cyrillic text (a majority of which is in legitimate Russian, not faux Cyrillic) and is made to look poorly photocopied. The disc itself is made to look like a "Demorez" DVD-R (a parody of Memorex, with the similar slogan "Is life? No. Demorez.") with the word "BO?AT" appearing to be crudely written in marker and the "R" written backwards.

Litigation
The state prosecutor in Hamburg, Germany, filed a complaint against Mr Cohen, accusing him of slander, inciting violence against the Sinti and Roma Gypsy groups, and violating Germany's anti-discrimination law.
Two fraternity men featured in the movie have filed an anonymous complaint against corporations and persons affiliated with Mr Cohen in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California, for fraud, rescission of contract, common law false light, statutory false light, appropriation of likeness, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. One of the plaintiffs has been revealed as Justin Seay, a graduate of the University of South Carolina and former Vice President of the Chi Psi Fraternity. On December 11, 2006, an L.A. Judge denied the pair a restraining order to remove them from the film.
Cindy Streit, the owner of Etiquette Training Service in Birmingham, Alabama, has claimed mistreatment and fraud after "Borat" attended a dinner party and subjected her and the other guests to "ridicule and humiliation". Ms. Streit has hired attorney Gloria Allred, who is demanding an investigation by the California attorney general. Allred says her client agreed to be filmed as part of a documentary for Belarus television, and for those purposes only. She is asking the attorney general to consider all appropriate relief, including a percentage of the profits from the film. 20th Century Fox denied the claims and stated that there was nothing in writing about only being shown in Belarus; they also asserted that the release form clearly stated the footage could be distributed worldwide.
According to a January 2007 report by the Associated Press, Israeli comedian Dovale Glickman plans to sue Cohen for copyright infringement of the phrase "Wa wa wee Wa." Glickman originated the phrase 16 years ago as part of his Israeli comedy show, "Zehu Zeh."

In the 2007 film Epic Movie, Danny Jacobs plays a rip-off of Borat at the end of the film, and repeats the "NOT!" joke used at the end of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
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