I was at the Del Amo Mall the yesterday during my break, and I came across the kiosk I always pass by that sells only DVD movies. Normally, I never really stop to take much of a look around, but that day, I remembered I still haven't bought Pirates of the Caribbean 2 yet, so I stopped to see if they have it (for a reasonable price).

While I was browsing, the guy had Borat running on his little television for advertising purposes. At that moment, a group came by and started laughing really loudly. I looked up, and it was right at the scene where Borat and his...friend (?) were fighting naked.

He quickly restarted the film.

As he did that, I said, "I didn't really like that movie."
He looked at me, and said, "Me neither. I don't want to put this up, but it's one of the bigger movies that's come out, so...yeah."
And then we started to talk about why we didn't like Borat.

I brought up the main thing I really did enjoy: that Borat showed us exactly how ignorant some fellow Americans can be, be it towards race (like when he brought his African-American friend over to the group that was teaching him manners' house) or towards gender (the group of college kids in the RV), or even towards people that just don't understand the ways of the "Americans" (the group that was teaching him "table etiquette").

Then the man working the kiosk (I feel so bad, I forgot to learn his name) brought up a very good point to me. I'm pretty sure most people already realized this, but I never thought of it til he brought it up: the actor for Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen, was very courageous to write up this movie, take on that role.

He actually took up a very "uncivilized" character, placed himself in a very...sensitive...place, and literally turned their world upside down. He went to the RODEO and replaced our country's name with his own in our National Anthem, in front of THOUSANDs of people, he ran through a hotel naked, he brought an African-American into a "proper" Caucasian home... the list goes on. Fact is, he put himself into a lot of situations where he would've been pummled into oblivion.

And yet, he took on this part. I'm pretty damn sure he knew exactly what he'd be doing too. I mean, he wrote it.

Another point the man brought to my attention, was the power of the camera. He said that most of those people didn't know what the camera was for, and where it'd be feeding to, but the simple fact that they were being taped, made them... well, behave.

Let's give an example of the power of the camera--
The man at the kiosk told me about a deleted scene from the DVD: Borat had went into a grocery store, and the manager was giving him a tour of all the foods. They arrived at the cheese section and Borat points to every kind of cheese and asks what it was. The manager stood there, and answered every single question: "Cheese." This went on for 10 minutes.

Now, if the camera was not there, do you think that the manager would have kept his composure? Do you think he still would have stood there, and answered every single "What is that" ? Do you think he would have just said, "This is ALL cheese, now let's move on!!" ?
So because there as a camera pointed to his face, he had to keep his composure, and make sure he stayed professional.

As our conversation came to a close (I still had to get back to school), we talked about the downside for Sacha Baron Cohen. People will remember him only as Borat for a very long time, and if he takes on any serious roles any too soon, it may not work out very well for him.

Take Napoleon Dynamite for example. In the past few years, if people saw Jon Heder in another movie, they'd only see Napoleon Dynamite, and not really see him as another actor. But now that the waves have died down, the audience is now able to see him as not Napoleon Dynamite, but an actor.



And so, I conclude this blog with,
I really didn't like Borat.
But I do respect it.

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