Baron Cohen comes out of character to defend Borat

[truthpusher]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1990387.ece

Baron Cohen comes out of character to defend Borat

By Arifa Akbar

Published: 17 November 2006

He is a comedian whose alter ego - a racist, sexist homophobe - has delighted many, appalled some and is selling out cinemas across Britain and America.

Now, after staying resolutely in boorish persona during previous interviews, Sacha Baron Cohen has spoken in depth about his motives in creating his comical anti-hero Borat. The journalist from Kazakhstan who sings anti-Semitic songs and refers to women as prostitutes was created "as a tool" to expose people's prejudices, he said.

The 35-year-old Jewish comedian from London has maintained a long silence over the controversy raised by Borat, whose extreme anti-Semitic remarks have earned censure both from the Kazakh government and from the Jewish community.

In one sketch from Baron Cohen's film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which premiered this month in London, Borat performs a song called "Throw the Jew Down the Well" in a country and western bar in Arizona.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the comedian revealed he was a devout Jew, observing Sabbath and eating kosher foods, and he referred to the singing scene to defend his inflammatory comedy.

"Borat essentially works as a tool. By himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudices, whether it's anti-Semitism or an acceptance of anti-Semitism. 'Throw the Jew Down the Well' was a very controversial sketch, and some members of the Jewish community thought it was actually going to encourage anti-Semitism.

"But to me it revealed something about that bar in Tuscon. And the question is: did it reveal that they were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism," he said.

(snip)

[Jed Dilligan]

1. Wow. The Independent got something wrong.

"Throw the Jew..." was on Da Ali G Show, not in Borat.


And I thought those Brits were awesome fact-checkers!

[Little Wing]

9. It's not in the movie?

[Jed Dilligan]

10. Nope. Only on the cable TV show.

[BadgerKid]

13. It is in the movie.

Someone posted it on youtube also.

[Jed Dilligan]

14. My girlfriend and I both saw it,

and think you're mistaken. Any help resolving this, DUers?

[Little Wing]

16. It's been on youtube for ages

So I'm leaning towards it not being in the movie. At least I'm hoping it's not in the movie, and my suspicions that what's been shown already is just the tamer stuff compared to what's in the movie.

No spoilers please.

[uncle ray]

18. there are several clips in the trailers that got cut from the film too.

at least in some of the older trailers still available on youtube.

[Jed Dilligan]

15. My girlfriend and I both saw it,

and think you're mistaken. Any help resolving this, DUers?

[Shakespeare]

22. No, it is NOT in the movie.

I've seen the movie. Either you haven't, or you weren't paying attention. That scene is NOT in the movie.

[ariellyn]

2. Baron Cohen is brilliant. I agree the reaction to the song says more

than the lyrics.

[Ian David]

3. "Throw the Jew Down The Well" isn't in the movie. n/t

[Kali]

5. ...

Borat speaking to the Pima County Republicans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67r7Q0lG98c

And singing at the Country West bar on Ruthrauff Road in Tucson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M8rWBa0NHY

[Ian David]

4. Borat loves Democratic Underground

[Shakespeare]

6. High five!!

:rofl:

[RandiFan1290]

7. I like!!1

[Cha]

8. Is that picture for real?

Ali G has some tuchis.

[adamblast]

11. I wish I could watch & enjoy him:

I certainly respect his improv and character-building skills. Maybe it's a function of my age, but I just hate comedy that screws real people over--I just can't see it as funny, I side with the little guy, not the folks with the cameras trying to put one over. Even when they're pointing out people's faults--I don't think they've got a right to lie to you then put you on camera for the world to mock.

Same with Jackass. Hell, same with the Daily Show, tho I love Jon--if it's one of those interviews where real people are made fun of, I have to fast forward thru it; it's just too uncomfortable for me. So basically, tho I have nothing against Cohen, I hope he loses all his lawsuits. I think he deserves to.

[uncle ray]

20. Borat IS standing up for the little guy.

the little guy being minority races, etc. and the big bully is the racist, prejudiced ugly Americans.

[brentspeak]

12. This guy is a jerk, and I don't understand why people think he's a genius

No kidding that his character Borat's anti-Semitism is meant to hold anti-Semitism up to a mirror. And despite some Jewish organizations' concerns about Borat's anti-Semitic sayings, that's not the controversy, and both the reporter and Baron Cohen know it.

The real issues are 1) how Baron Cohen first manages to hoodwink, under false pretenses, people to act out in front of a camera; 2) how he unjustifiably takes those extreme examples he just filmed to make a broad-brush statement about an entire country (in the movie's case, the U.S.); and 3) how he shamelessly exploited dirt-poor Romanian gypsies to humiliate themselves in front of the whole world.

The last bit is terribly ironic: the traditional awful rationale for the Eastern European Jewish anti-Semitism and pogroms of the past was the canard that Jews get ahead in life by exploiting Gentiles through of the use of guile and trickery. So what does Baron Cohen do? By fooling the hapless gypsies into becoming unwitting punchlines, he manages to fulfill all the phony anti-Semitic stereotypes by doing exactly that, in a film designed (among other things) to make anti-Semitism an issue.

[Beelzebud]

19. It's not his problem that you don't get it.

[brentspeak]

23. Oh, yeah...his "satire"

I do "get it". I guess you didn't bother to read my post. You probably don't get the difference between satire and crass exploitation.

[RandiFan1290]

17. The first season of Ali G is on HBO On Demand

In case anyone out there wants to see some of his other characters.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

21. If you gotta explain it . . .