"Now Romanians Say 'Borat' Misled Them"

[GreenPartyVoter]

Cohen used Glod's Gypsies as stand-ins for Kazakhs in his runaway hit movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." Now offended villagers are threatening to sue the film's producers for paying them a pittance to put farm animals in their homes and perform other crude antics.

Residents and local officials in the hardscrabble hamlet 85 miles northwest of Bucharest said Tuesday they were horrified and humiliated to learn their abject poverty and simple ways were ridiculed for a movie now raking in millions at box offices worldwide.

"We thought they came here to help us - not mock us," said Dana Luca, 40, sweeping a manure-stained street lined with shabby homes of crumbling brick and corrugated iron sheeting.

"We haven't got anything here. We haven't got running water. We can't even bathe," she said. "We are poor people, but we are still people."

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20061114/D8LCSROO0.html

[Parche]

1. borat

Isnt he annoying yet????

[Stuckinthebush]

2. Getting old fast I'd say

Very old.

[Dorian Gray]

16. I found him annoying

BEFORE the ads for the movie, so now these news stories just make me roll my eyes!

GO AWAY, Sascha Cohen! Please just go away!

[wtmusic]

3. Oh crap

All the buzz about this film...I wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole after reading this.

Poverty...now there's something to laugh about! :eyes:

[MurryMom]

7. "Borat"

"Borat" is the must-see movie of the year in spite of its gross humor. Some of the subjects ridiculed by Borat are:
Anti-semites
Jews
Evangelists
Frat boys
Whites
Blacks
Kazakhis (sp?)
Uzbekhis (sp?)
Americans
Abu Graib
Fat people
Prostitutes... you get the idea. Nobody escapes Borat's satire.

[wtmusic]

14. Does making fun of Americans sanitize making fun

of people in abject poverty, or what happened at Abu Ghraib? The difference is that one group has control of their situation, the other has very little, if any.

There was some horrible suffering that went on at Abu Ghraib. Idea -- let's put Borat in Iraq, in those people's shoes. That would be really funny!

[VforVicarious]

4. *sigh*

These people can get in line behind the frat boys, the tv producer who lost her job, the driving instructor, etc.

They signed a waiver, there's nothing they can do. Jokes on you

[newyawker99]

23. Hi VforVicarious!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[VforVicarious]

24. Hola

Tanks for the welcome

[On the Road]

5. I Haven't Seen the Movie

but it seems like a mixed bag. Some of the satire is probably deserved, but it always galls me to make fun of poverty or of bad English. A person with an accent and bad grammar is someone who speaks more languages than you.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Greyhound]

8. I have never understood the (variable) popularity of these SNL

(or is this character a product of Comedy Central?) skit-to-film movies, they are generally offensive and worse, just plain boring, not funny at all.

Last year it was "the 40 year old virgin". The initial joke is worth a chuckle, but that was it, one joke throughout the whole movie. By the end I was fervently hoping for the Glenn Close character from "Fatal Attraction" to pop up and end his, and my, misery.

Even the ads for this POS are unwatchable.

[skypilot]

12. "The 40 Year Old Virgin"

UGH!!!

I made it to the chest waxing scene and I hadn't laughed ONCE. It's amazing that one of the guys involved in "Freaks and Geeks"--a great show--was involved in this. Brutally unfunny.

[gorgan]

25. Neither Actually

Borat is one of the secondary characters Baron Cohen's developed for his english series, Da Ali G Show. Ali G is a north London white youth who fancies himself a ghetto hip hop hipster. The substance of the show involes Ali G interviewing prominent people (e.g. Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich), acting the fool, seeing if he can bait his victims into revealing themselves. He's often successful.

Borat has segments between Ali G's exploits on the show. Borat's Ali G segments are very similar to the movie. In one show, he visits a gun club in Dallas, TX. He tells his subject, a member of the club, that in Kazakhstan, they use hardened criminals as targets. The gun club members thinks this is a great idea, but one unfortunately that probably won't fly here in the US of A.

Boris the gay German fashion critic is the third character he developed for Da Ali G Show. Like Borat, he appears in segments between Ali G segments.

Personally Boris is my favorite. In one memorable show he's gets fashion designer who just showed at the event Boris is covering to completely contradiction himself like 6 times (Boris: I loved the heaviness of this show. Designer: Yes, that's what we wanted. <cut to> Boris: The best thing about this show was how light and airy it was--it just floated away. Designer: Well, that's exactly the response I was aiming for).

Baron Cohen is often squirm-inducing, but never boring.

[madmusic]

9. Success is always under attack.

They may have a point, but if the movie flopped would they be so vocal?

And here too Americans love to "kick 'em when their up, kick 'em when their down."

Indeed, the media attention did turn the debate to poverty.

[wicket]

18. You got that right

It's a huge success now everyone wants a piece.

[catnhatnh]

10. Some scam is being run here....

Let's use a little logic here-how did poor Romanians without running water and certainly without a first run cinema LEARN of their disgrace??? Reviews from the NY Daily News and Variety??? Nah-some jackass is TELLING them they have been disgraced and misused and pushing for outrage (publicity) and compensation (cash) and hoping some of it sticks to him or her....Just sayin'....

[nomo]

11. Sacha Baron Cohen is an asshole

Let's face it. He's "funny" at the expense of other people. That's his schtick. A bit cheap, don't you think??

[wicket]

17. Does this mean Don Rickles has to retire?

:P

[alcibiades_mystery]

19. Cheap? No way.

Brilliant.

He has a particular talent for making people proudly admit the very worst about themselves. It's fucking hilarious, especially in our age of guardedness.

[Jed Dilligan]

13. So James Gandolfini can sue HBO

for portraying him as a mobster.

If these people don't understand the concepts of "acting" and "fiction," they really are as benighted as they claim to be.

[originalpckelly]

15. I think this is a plot by George Bush and his father Barbara to have sex...

with Borat's suit.

[npincus]

20. Loved it.

Laughed my butt off-- and loudly at the Anti-Semitic humor, and I'm Jewish BTW.

If you want PC, don't go. But it is SATIRE. Because the Borat character is such an ignoramus, the views he espouses are naturally idiotic and are being mocked, that's the subtext. The absurd offensive remarks he blithely drops are presented as the blatherings of an idiot, and are therefore idiotic. If you take his words at face value, you aren't getting the point. I think that DUers would like it, if they saw it. There's a great scene (2 in fact) with former Republican Congressmen. The one with Bob Barr was worth the price of admission.

It is really f-cking funny. Don't be offended, but I think some here need to lighten up a bit. It's SATIRE.

:)

[SmileyBoy]

21. I agree 1,000 percent.

:)

[npincus]

22. oh, man.

My husband was laughing so loud it sounded like he was being whacked with a stick! Did you see it?