I Smell a Borat [A review by Ben Stein]

American Spectator ^ | December 27, 2006 | Ben Stein

[Quilla]

Let's talk about Borat. I finally caught up with it at my local theater here in Rancho Mirage not long ago. It made me laugh a few times, but basically I hated it. Here's why.

1.) The auteur and star of the movie, Sacha Baron Cohen, is a Jew of high degree in England and now in Hollywood. But much of the movie is viciously anti-Semitic. This includes not just some but many "jokes" about killing Jews, about how Jews are the devil, about how Jews will kill for money, about how Jews are like cockroaches (the last a direct steal from Joachim Goebbels, who compared Jews with breeding rats and insects). This is in a world where we just lived through an anti-Semitic holocaust with the same themes and another is promised by the terrorists in Iran.

These are not funny jokes. These are really just old-fashioned sickening racism disguised as hipness. It's also a smug joke by Sacha Cohen which is basically his endlessly saying, "I hate Jews, too, even though I'm Jewish, and hey, I guess I don't look Jewish because I can say all these horrible Jew hatred things and no one says, 'Hey, what are you doing? You're a Jew.'"

It's repulsive.

[Quilla]

I think I'll pass on Borat.

[2banana]

Isn't Borat supposed to be from a made up muslim country? That would kinda fit...

[Dominic Harr]

:-D

Let's just say someone missed the point.

When he's razzing on Jews, he's making fun of the Jew-hater in the movie/shtick.

I found it funny, laughed my behind off thru much of the movie.

[Dominic Harr]

Isn't Borat supposed to be from a made up muslim country?

Exactly.

He's making fun of muslims, with the anti-Jewish jokes. The whole point is the Borat character *is* the joke. It's all about seeing how average people react to this character.

Like the racist jokes in Blazing Saddles.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I found it funny, laughed my behind off thru much of the movie.

A lot people forget how funny the Nazis and the Holocaust really are.

[kawaii]

He's supposed to be from Kazakhstan which is 66% Muslim. A lot of his 'comedy' comes from baiting folks into saying what they (aledgedly actually beleive) with regard to Jews. He's not saying 'I'm a Jew and hate Jews' so much as he's saying 'I bet I can get you to say you hate Jews'.

[nctexan]

While this movie hides under the banner of "I'm a Jew so I can say outrageous things about Jews", it's a smug intellectually elite way to put down America and our traditional institutions, and our value system.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[TSchmereL]

Amen.

[2banana]

A lot people forget how funny the Nazis and the Holocaust really are.

I guess you never saw a Mel Brooks movie (or Hogan's Heros)...

[Zack Nguyen]

I'll pass on Borat too, but is Ben Stein mistaking Borat's over the top anti-Jew rantings for some po-mo attempt at skewering the very anti-Semitism he seems to perpetuate? Or am I giving Borat way too much credit?

[Experiment 6-2-6]

There were racist jokes in Blazing Saddles?

[rhombus]

OK, I guess. Acting like an a-hole to make fun of a-holes...except the a-holes are laughing because they think the joke isn't on them but on everybody else. So everyone gets a piece of the racism pie and a good time is had by all? So can we use the N-word now to make fun of people who use the N-word? Where does it end? At least fewer people will have to go to rehab now. If Hollywood loves this film it can't possibly be good for America.

[MeanWestTexan]

"While this movie hides under the banner of "I'm a Jew so I can say outrageous things about Jews", it's a smug intellectually elite way to put down America and our traditional institutions, and our value system."

What is particularly distirbing is Sacha Cohen (Borat) is a recognized Kohain, so he aught to know better. Of course, he also augt not be marrying a convert, but that is another story.

http://www.bangitout.com/articles/viewarticle.php?a=1522%20He

[Zack Nguyen]

There is a long scene mocking Christian fundamentalists, in which Borat makes cruel fun of the idea of Jesus as Savior.

Well said. I heard about this scene, and I'll never see the movie now.

[sarasota]

I think it's safe to say that some folks just don't get his humor. Kinda like missing the point in South Park. To each his/her own.

[what's up]

Much of the movie is about Borat making fun of people who have been completely kind to him

Exactly. Much of it is sick humor.

Appeals to the lower nature. Totally cynical. And way too much bathroom humor.

[gdani]

Memo to Ben Stein:

1) You're not the movie's target demographic

2) Please get a sense of humor

[grjr21]

easily one of the funniest lines from one of the funniest movies ever.

[Charles Martel]

"...hey, I guess I don't look Jewish because I can say all these horrible Jew hatred things and no one says, 'Hey, what are you doing? You're a Jew.'"

Mel Brooks is similarly free of that sort of criticism, despite a *very* Jewish appearance. Of course, Mel's jabs are generally funny, a quality that Cohen chooses to bury in mean-spiritedness.

Perhaps Brooks' vaudeville days are responsible for his ability to be irreverent without crossing over into insulting and demeaning. Cohen's "Borat" routine would last only a scant few minutes before the hook came out.