Borat is back in America sporting a menagerie of costumes and disguises in an attempt to hide the popularity he attained from this last visit to the land of opportunity.
Borat first came to our screens in 2006 when he visited America as Kazakhstan’s third most well-known journalist. This seems like a lifetime ago, when the world was a simpler place, pre COVID, pre social media and everything that comes with it. It was the perfect era to pull off a stunt of the magnitude as the one Sacha Baron Cohen did when portraying Borat first time around.
America was always the perfect place for a prank film to take place, having been known as the godfathers of the candid camera blueprint. Although, it was Borat that took this blueprint to the next level with its outlandishness and shocking stunts that left its victims with hilarious looks of bewilderment that ultimately led to fantastic viewership. The character of Borat is ruthlessly racist, which could even mirror the point of view of those unbeknownst Americans that he is dragging around on a shoestring of social commentary.
Fourteen years later and Baron Cohen has brought the character out of retirement and readied him for another trip of trials and tribulations. Yet, due to the popularity of Borat, it is near impossible to create the same idea, and with that, it loses its shock appeal that led it to the fore the first time. Even though most of the film is scripted, with the smaller stunts being semi-staged throughout, it still creates a varied amount of laughs to carry it on a level that allows us to appreciate the bigger more elaborately unscripted stunts that it will undoubtedly be more known for after its release. Its primary goal is to create a social commentary on the people of America by showing them in a fictional, albeit a totally believable representation that has become so apparent in the years since the first film.
The fact that Borat is so recognisable means that for most of the film he needs to use a number of different disguises, and it is his daughter, Tutar, played by Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova who he brings along with him that ends up shifting the spotlight away from Borat and projecting it onto herself in quite the risqué fashion. Their objective is to present Tutar to a leading politician as a sexual gift – playing on the fact that a large portion of politicians have been, and are still being accused of sexual acts against women – so she can be the very next Melania Trump, who hilariously happens to be a heroine of hers.
The two embark on a journey across America, driving a beat-up old van with a horse box attached to the back for the daughter (until the arrival of a very lovely and modern cage). They stop at numerous locations where they enquire about how Tutar can be transformed into a woman to be desired by old middle-aged white men… now that is the dream for any young woman isn’t it? These encounters obviously lead to some cringey and tough moments for the eyes, with a particularly revealing moment at a high society ball in Georgia, a breeding ground for elite, pompous white men who parade their daughters around like show pony’, Borat and his daughter take this to the next level though, with great vulgarity in the form of interpretive dance. Although an obvious joke against this class of people, there is a sense when watching this that events such as these really do tread the boundary between what is right and wrong and ultimately the dark underbelly of high class societies.
America has changed a lot since Borat’s last visit, partly due to Donald Trump’s presidency which has split the country right down the middle. It does seem adequate though as Trump is the epitome of satire, rendering attempts at showing him up to be futile. Due to this, attentions were turned towards other political figures that are much more accessible than Trump himself, yet still representing the same ideas as the man in power, which does lead towards a couple of the more memorable scenes in the entire film.
Borat 2 is a breath of fresh air and it’s release really is perfect timing in the current circumstances, and with that, it could give many people a much needed laugh at what is surrounding is at this very moment. Ultimately it will not be everyone’s cup of tea, some of its darker jokes might be a little bit too strong for people’s palates, and it is not as genuine in narrative as its predecessor, but it creates enough laughs throughout to hold itself as a very steady sequel to a much more outrageous film.
Available to watch on Amazon Prime now.
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