Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) Movie Review
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is the follow-up to Borat (2006). If you haven’t seen the original Borat, it’s definitely worth a watch and will give you a good idea whether you’ll be into Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. For those who have no context, Borat is played by Sacha Baron Cohen and is a fictional character from Kazakhstan. While Borat is fictional, the situations he gets into are not. It is a mockumentary of the highest order. Part of Borat’s appeal is how he uncovers the deeply embedded racism and sexism in America.
In this movie, Borat is released from the gulag by his country’s president and is given the task of returning to America. His mission is to bring Johnny the Monkey (who is an actual monkey) to President Donald Trump as a gift to redeem Kazakhstan. Before he leaves for America he discovers that he has a fifteen year old daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova). He goes to America by way of a cargo ship. When he lands, he discovers that Tutar is in Johnny the Monkey’s shipping box and has in fact eaten him. Borat decides to give his daughter to Vice President Mike Pence as a gift to make up for this mistake.
The rest of the movie consists of Borat trying to give Tutar to Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani with some hilarious detours along the way. Borat is absolutely ridiculous and you have to be prepared for that when you watch the movie. For example, at one point he quarantines with two QAnon conspiracy theorists who spout out absurd statements like how Hilary Clinton drinks the blood of children. Keep in mind this is not scripted, these men are real people who actually believe these claims.
Borat also attends a March for Our Rights rally in Olympia where he gets on stage and sings a song with incredibly racist lyrics saying they should “inject Obama with the Wuhan flu.” You’re clued into the fact that Borat is in on the joke, but no one else is. The crowd sings along merrily with him and we even see people doing the Nazi salute. It was like watching a trainwreck, you want to look away but you just can’t and it’s hard to comprehend what you’re seeing.
The most talked about scene in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm involves Tutar interviewing Rudy Giuliani. The wonderful genius of Sacha Baron Cohen is that he doesn’t even have to manipulate anyone into doing inane things. He simply sets the stage, rolls the camera, and lets them simply be themselves. Giuliani hits on Tutar the entire time, unaware that he is being filmed for a Borat movie. We even see him in a hotel room, on the bed, with his hands down his pants and Tutar sitting next to him. He later claimed he was taking microphone equipment off. Sorry Rudy, but you’re not fooling anyone here.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is pure absurd cinema. Sacha Baron Cohen is a rarified genius who is perhaps the only person who could pull schemes like this off. He provides commentary on Americans by simply letting them be themselves, with disastrous effects. You’ll laugh at the absurdity of this movie and then be solidly disgusted at some of the humans who inhabit this earth and more specifically, our country. It’s a fine line that Borat walks and one that has potential dangers (Cohen mentioned he wore a bullet proof vest on several occasions). But it unveils the deep sexism, racism, and general stupidity of most of America.
Film or Movie: Movie
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You enjoyed the first Borat movie
2. You like mockumentaries
3. You want to see the underbelly of America
