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== Trivia ==
== Trivia ==
*The Hotel he stays at in New York is the Hotel Wellington, located at the corner of West 55th and 7th Avenue. The subway he rides is the 4,5,6 Line.
*For the movie, Borat made a song called "You, Be My Wife" with [[Croatian people|Croatian]] [[keytar]] player [http://www.belindabedekovic.com/video_en.htm Belinda].
*For the movie, Borat made a song called "You, Be My Wife" with [[Croatian people|Croatian]] [[keytar]] player [http://www.belindabedekovic.com/video_en.htm Belinda].
*The hotel Borat attempts to stay at in [[Atlanta, Georgia]] is actually the [[Adolphus Hotel]] in [[Dallas, Texas]].
*The hotel Borat attempts to stay at in [[Atlanta, Georgia]] is actually the [[Adolphus Hotel]] in [[Dallas, Texas]].

Revision as of 22:17, 16 November 2006

Borat
File:Borat movie.png
Borat poster
Directed byLarry Charles
Written bySacha Baron Cohen
Peter Baynham
Anthony Hines
Dan Mazer
Produced byMonica Levinson
Dan Mazer
Jay Roach
StarringSacha Baron Cohen
Ken Davitian
Pamela Anderson
Luenell
CinematographyLuke Geissbuhler
Anthony Hardwick
Edited byCraig Alpert
Peter Teschner
James Thomas
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
Belgium
November 1 2006
GermanyNetherlands United KingdomSloveniaLithuania
November 2 2006
CanadaUnited StatesCroatiaEstoniaSerbia
November 3 2006
Australia Czech Republic
November 23 2006
Poland
November 24 2006
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18,000,000 USD

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (often referred to simply as Borat) is a film mockumentary comedy starring the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as his satirical character Borat, travelling around the United States meeting different people.

The film, directed by Larry Charles, entered public release on November 1, 2006 in Belgium, and by November 3, 2006 it had opened in fourteen European countries as well as the United States and Canada, and will premiere in Australia on November 16, 2006. The film's $26.4 million opening weekend in the United States and Canada is the highest in history for a film released in fewer than 1,000 cinemas.[1] On its second weekend, Borat surpassed the opening weekend with a total of $29 million.[2]

Plot synopsis

File:Boratmoi.jpg
Borat meets with the Kazakh Ministry of Information, which commissions him to make a documentary.

The film involves Borat leaving his home in Kazakhstan to go to the "U.S. and A." and record a documentary at the behest of the fictitious Kazakh Ministry of Information. He leaves behind his mother, wife, and the town rapist, bringing along his obese producer Azamat Bagatov. Much of the movie from this point on features unstaged vignettes of Borat interviewing and interacting with Americans who believe he is an actual foreign TV personality with no understanding of American customs.

Template:Spoiler While in New York, he sees an episode of Baywatch and immediately falls in love with Pamela Anderson. Once he learns that the wife he left behind has been killed (shot, mistaken for a bear), he takes driving lessons, then buys a dilapidated ice cream truck which he drives from New York toward Los Angeles (Azamat is afraid to fly for fear of a repeat of the 9/11 attacks, which he believes were the work of Jews) to 'have' Anderson's vazhin and make her his wife.

Through the course of his trip across the country, he continues to gather footage for his documentary: He meets feminists, gay pride parade participants, politicians, and African American youths playing Cee-lo; disrupts a meteorologist during a live weather update, sings a contorted version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a rodeo (he claims to be singing Kazakhstan's national anthem to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner", perhaps as an attempt at showing respect for both countries' cultures), rents a room from Jewish innkeepers, attempts to purchase a handgun (when denied because he is not an American citizen, he purchases a bear instead, for protection), attends a high-society dinner in the South (on Secession Drive), and visits an antique shop full of Confederate memorabilia.

Borat eventually gets into a heated argument with Azamat in a hotel room, which erupts into a nude fight (with Borat's genitalia digitally obscured) that spills out into the hallways, into a crowded elevator (the elevator empties quickly), and ultimately into a packed ballroom of mortgage brokers.

As a result, Azamat abandons Borat, taking his passport, all of their money, and their bear. Borat's spirits are further dampened when some drunken University of South Carolina students he befriends show him the infamous Pam and Tommy video, revealing that she is not the virgin he thought she was. However, he renews his faith by attending a Pentecostal Christian revival meeting and learns to forgive Azamat and Pamela. He accompanies several church members on a bus to Los Angeles, where he finds Azamat, dressed as Oliver Hardy, whom Borat mistakes for Adolf Hitler. The two reconcile and try to track down Pamela Anderson.

He finally comes face-to-face with Anderson at an autograph-signing at the Virgin Megastore at The Block at Orange in Orange County, California, where he shows her his "traditional marriage sack" and chases her around the store and into the shopping center parking lot in an attempt to make off with her; he is finally subdued by security. Afterwards, Borat then marries an African American prostitute, Luenell, whom he had befriended earlier in the film and goes back to Kazakhstan with his new wife. Template:Endspoiler

Production

Most scenes in the film were unscripted and most of the characters are not actors (with the exception of Borat, Azamat, Pamela Anderson, who is an old friend of Cohen[3], the prostitute, and Borat's family members).

The "Kazakhstan" depicted in the film has little or no relationship with the actual country. The scenes showing Borat's home village were filmed in the village of Glod, Romania, although the woman who plays Borat's wife is an actual native of Kazakhstan, who had emigrated to Romania to seek improved living conditions. The name of Borat's neighbor, Nursultan Tuyakbay, is a cross between the names of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and opposition politician Zharmakhan Tuyakbay. During the credits a large picture is shown of a man supposed to be Kazakhstan's president. In reality it is Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev.

No actual Kazakh language is heard in the film. Several characters purportedly speaking Kazakh are actually speaking Romanian. The Cyrillic alphabet used in the film is the Russian form, not the modified Kazakh one; words written in it (especially the geographical names) are either mis-spelled, or make no sense at all. Sacha Baron Cohen speaks Hebrew in the film, while Ken Davitian, who plays Azamat, speaks Armenian.[4] They also use several common phrases from Slavic languages: Borat's trademarks expressions (see Borat#Lingo) "jagshemash" and "chenquieh" come from Polish (or related languages) for "How are you?" and "thank you". While presenting his house, Borat says "tishe" to his house-cow; "tiše/тише" is Russian, Western South Slavic languages and Czech for "quietly" or "be quiet", similarly Polish "ciszej" means "quieter".

Deleted scenes

Several scenes that were removed from the final cut of the movie were released onto YouTube[specify] in late September. They involve Borat singing a traditional Kazakh prayer, trying to do so again, being pulled over by Dallas police officers, visiting an animal shelter to get an attack dog to protect him against the Jews, being in a supermarket, being in a prison, trying to get a masseuse to "finish him" and telling a doctor which sexually transmitted diseases he has.

Screenings

Previews

The film was given a sneak preview at the 2006 Comic Con International in San Diego, California on July 21 2006. To get in, one had to present a very crude ticket printed on cardboard that was passed out to people from the ice cream truck Borat drives in the film. The film was shown at Pacific Theaters in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. Test screenings were also given throughout New York City towards the end of the summer.

The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada on September 7 2006 at the Ryerson University Theatre. Sacha Baron Cohen arrived in character as Borat in a cart pulled by women dressed as peasants. The projector broke during the movie; Cohen cited "bad Kazakh technology" as the cause of the problem and assured the audience that the projector would be fixed "or I will be execute". After attempts to fix it, including one by director Michael Moore, the screening was rescheduled to the next night at the Elgin Theatre. Moore was also present for the next screening, as well as Dustin Hoffman.

The film was also screened at the Haifa International Film Festival in Haifa, Israel on October 13 2006 late night at the Auditorium theatre. The film was also featured as part of the MySpace Black Carpet premier promotion. On September 20 2006 the film was screened in 25 cities across the globe, with Borat making a surprise appearance at the San Francisco screening that was free to MySpace members.

The film also featured as part of the SeeFilmFirst campaign in the United Kingdom. This meant that at select Odeon cinemas up and down the UK, with a printed off ticket for one or two persons they could walk into the cinema and see an exclusive preview at 6.30 p.m. on 10 October 2006. There were also previews in various cinemas across the UK at 6.30 p.m. on October 24 2006 and October 25 2006. These tickets were allocated in advance and are not widely known to the general public. Considering the huge publicity, the screenings were largely empty.

Similarly, the film was screened in the Paramount Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand on October 10 2006. Photocopied tickets were distributed publicly throughout the afternoon and a packed theatre watched an exclusive screening at 8:30 p.m.

On November 13, 2006, like at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada, in Sydney, Australia, Sacha Baron Cohen arrived in character as Borat and made several public appearances in various locations around the city, attended a press conference and later that evening attended the premiere screening. On November 17, 2006, Chhen again appeared in character at the Jam Factory Cinema in Melbourne. He arrived at the pre-screening at 7pm wearing a blue shell suit holding a table tennis bat. A number of fans were let in to the pre-screening where he made a 3 minute address to the theatre audience. Borat will also make various media appearances on talk shows and radio programs such as The Cage on Triple M whilst in Australia promoting the film.

The film was also shown on September 29 2006 to an audience in a Washington, D.C. theater. Borat announced the screening the day before when he had attempted to visit the White House and Embassy of Kazakhstan. Although the screening was meant for "Premier George Walter Bush", fans who printed a copy of the invitation on Borat's MySpace site were allowed into the screening.[citation needed] Actor Ken Davitian, who played Borat's producer and sidekick Azamat in the film, was present at the screening in character.

Junket and promotional screening

The movie was screened for members of the press on September 27 2006 at the Mann 6 in Hollywood. This was attended by press and the public. This served as the junket screening for the press day scheduled for October 20 2006. For the press day, journalists were told they had to submit their questions ahead of time so that Sacha Baron Cohen could prepare because he would be doing the press conference as the Borat character only and would not be available for interviews as Baron Cohen himself. Only two select outlets were able to videotape the press conference.[5]

German critic Tobias Kniebe stated in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he was bitten on the neck by a colleague who totally lost control laughing during the German press-screening.[6]

Scaled-back U.S. release

In late October, less than two weeks before the film's debut, Twentieth Century Fox scaled back its American release from 2,000 to 800 cinemas after marketing-survey data showed unexpectedly poor levels of audience awareness, with only 27% of respondents being aware of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan compared with percentages as high as 81% for the film's opening-weekend competitors. In addition, a movie industry analyst has said that executives feared Americans would not get the comic's Kazakhastani journalist character.[citation needed] The move surprised industry professionals, who could not recall such a move being made so close to a film's release.[7] [8] Despite this move, the film opened at number one in the box office, maintaining first place for two weeks straight, actually taking in more in the second week than in the first, due to an expansion into more than 2,500 screens for the second week of release. Regions in North America that have been absenced of the film were Utah, southern Idaho, Wyoming, western Colorado, southern Nevada, southeast Texas, southern Louisiana, southeastern Pennsylvania, Maine, and Alberta.

Reactions

By the film's participants

Though the producers required participants to fill out long release forms, several have sought legal action, claiming that they were tricked into taking part. There have also been allegations that they were either brainwashed or that the film's producers have psychologically impaired them.

  • The villagers of Glod, Dâmboviţa County, Romania claimed that the producers lied to them about the nature of the filming and were angered that they were portrayed as incestuous and ignorant. They claimed they were paid only three pounds (nearly six US dollars) each.[9]
  • Two former University of South Carolina students (of the three who appeared in the movie), Justin Seay and another unnamed litigant, have sued the film's producers[10], claiming that their comments that appeared in the film have caused defamation of their characters.[11] David Corcoran, one of the Chi Psi fraternity members appearing in the film, discovered he had been duped when one of his fraternity brothers searched for Borat on the Internet. According to Corcoran, "my first thought was, 'What if my mom finds out?'"[12] Corcoran and the other two fraternity members in the film have since left the fraternity and the university.[13] The release forms signed by the film's participants, however, contained a clause specifying that the film's producers could not be held responsible for any "fraud" (such as any alleged deception or surprise about the film or the consent agreement itself) involved in the interview.[14]
  • A lawyer contacted on July 12, 2005 by a WAPT news producer soon after Borat's appearance on that station provided her own reaction and the reactions of those involved in a scene of the film where Borat is on the set of their program:
The WAPT segment in the movie is funny, mostly because Brad McMullan, the morning anchor, and meteorologist Ken Johnson don't rise to the bait. "My first thought was this guy is not normal. But I didn't want to be disrespectful. I was told before the interview that Borat was making a foreign documentary. I didn't want the Kazakhstan people to get a bad impression of America or Mississippi. We live in a wonderful country and wonderful state," he said. "When I heard them (Cohen and Davitian) talking crazy, I knew something was up," said WAPT floor director Alton Palmore. They were trying to hand out $50 bills like candy to get releases signed, he said. "It humbled us," said WAPT general manager Stuart Kellogg. "But I thought our people handled it extremely well."[15]
  • After the movie's release, Dharma Arthur, a news producer for WAPT, wrote a letter to Newsweek saying that Borat's appearance had led to her losing her job: "Because of him, my boss lost faith in my abilities and second-guessed everything I did thereafter... How upsetting that a man who leaves so much harm in his path is lauded as a comedic genius." She claims to have checked a public relations website that Borat's producers gave her before booking him.[16]
  • In January 2005 coverage of the filming of the rodeo scene, Bobby Rowe, producer of the Salem, Virginia rodeo depicted in the movie, provided background on how he had become the victim of a hoax. He said that "months" prior to the appearance, he had been approached by someone from "One America, a California-based film company that was reportedly doing a documentary on a Russian immigrant"; he agreed to permit the "immigrant" to sing the [U.S.] national anthem after listening to a tape.[17]. After the film's release, Rowe said "Some people come up and say, 'Hey, you made the big time'; I've made the big time, but not in the way I want it." [18]
  • Etiquette expert Cindy Streit of Birmingham, Alabama said that prior to Borat's visit, she thought it would be a "wonderful opportunity to display some of our positive strengths. I'm proud to be an American, so I wanted to show this man our gracious Southern hospitality"; instead, the visit became "the dinner party from hell". Republican fund-raiser Sarah Moseley said "he insulted all of us, but we sat there and took it because we thought we were really going to make a difference. So we were angry when we found out that we had been duped."[19]
  • There are conflicting reports regarding the feelings of the participants in one of the film's most infamous scenes, in which Borat attempts to stay at a guest house owned by a Jewish couple. The Sun newspaper claims that a scene showing cockroaches running around at their home has hurt Mr and Mrs Behar's business in Massachusetts. The couple are quoted by the British tabloid to have said: “This is very insulting. They never told us they were going to do this. It is really terrible.”[20] However, the Salon Arts & Entertainment site quotes Mariam and Joseph Behar as calling the film "outstanding", referring to Baron Cohen as "very lovely and very polite" and a "genius".[21]

By potential participants

John Newkirk, a surgeon from Columbia, South Carolina was interviewed for 45 minutes by Borat about plastic surgery. Although the scene didn't appear in the film, Newkirk told The State about the experience. "It was the most bizarre conversation I’ve had in my whole life. He wanted a pot belly because in his country that was a sign of wealth." Newkirk was also asked about breast augmentation and penis enlargement, topics that caused Newkirk to suspect he was being goaded into saying something ridiculous. In spite of that, Newkirk never guessed that Borat wasn’t genuine, saying "The guy is good."[22]

By Kazakhstan

In 2005, following Borat's appearance at the MTV Movie Awards, the country's Foreign Ministry threatened to sue Sacha Baron Cohen, while Borat's Kazakh-based website, www.borat.kz, was taken down. In September 2006 the Kazakh President Nazarbayev visited US President George Bush for talks, with Kazakhstan's post-Borat international image among the items on the agenda. Kazakhstan also launched a multi-million dollar "Heart of Eurasia" campaign to counter the Borat effect, which Baron Cohen promptly took advantage of by denouncing the campaign at a press conference in front of the White House as the propaganda of the "evil nitwits" of Uzbekistan.[23]

Kazakhstan has not, however, banned the film, having merely urged that it not be distributed. 20th Century Fox's distribution subsidiary in the region, Gemini Films, has agreed not to show it there.[24]

European Center for Antiziganism Research

A group called European Center for Antiziganism Research, which works against negative attitudes toward Roma People, filed a complaint (PDF file, in German) with German prosecutors on October 18, 2006, based on Borat's comments about gypsies in his film. The complaint accuses him of defamation and inciting violence against an ethnic group[25] (Volksverhetzung). As a consequence, 20th Century Fox declared that it would remove all parts referring to Roma people from trailers shown on German television as well as on the movie's website.[26]

Ban in Russia

The State Movie Commission of Russia (Goskino) has denied a public release clearance to Borat, citing "insulting remarks toward some ethnic groups and religions" as the reason.[27]

Ban in United Arab Emirates

Dubai’s censors have confirmed they will recommend the controversial movie be banned. “It’s vile, gross and extremely ridiculous,” said Yousuf Abdul Hamid, film censor with the ministry of information in Dubai. Reportedly, two censors watching the film left the theatre part-way through the screening. “We all left because the film was extremely offensive and void of any story, substance or even comedy,” Abdul-Hamid said.[28]

Release

Reviews

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was exceptionally well received by critics, with several having declared it one of the funniest films ever made.[29] In an article about the changing face of American comedy, the Atlantic Monthly (which does not review films) said that it "may be the funniest film in a decade". [30]Rotten Tomatoes classified it as one of the best-reviewed films of 2006, with an aggregate "fresh" rating of 93%[31] — a very rare feat for a comedy. It is the #168th highest-voted film on IMDb.

Box office

American audiences embraced the film, which played to sold-out crowds in many of its U.S. showings on its opening night. This led to a largely unexpected first-day gross of $9,050,000[32], despite having been shown on only 837 screens, wildly surpassing its competition which is shown on over 3,500 screens.

Over the opening weekend of the film, it unexpectedly rose to No. 1 on the weekend with a total of $26.4 million[33], beating its competitors, Flushed Away and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. The film's opening weekend's theatre average was an estimated $31,511, topping Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith yet behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Spider-Man [34]. It retained the top spot in its second weekend after expanding to 2,566 theatres, extending its box office total to $67.8 million.[35]

In the United Kingdom Borat opened at number 1, with an opening weekend gross of £6,242,344 ($11,935,986), the 41st best opening in the UK to that time. [36]

Soundtrack

Main article: Stereophonic Musical Listenings That Have Been Origin in Moving Film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
Borat soundtrack

The soundtrack for the movie was released on October 24 2006 on iTunes, and October 31 2006 in CD stores. Not included on this CD but heard in the film are "Kaleš, bre, Andjo", a Macedonian folk song, and "Uspavanka za Radmilu M" (Lullaby for Radmila M) by Goran Bregović.

Trivia

References

  1. ^ "`Borat' Surprises With No. 1 Debut". 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2006-11-06.
  2. ^ "'Borat' makes benefit glorious with $29M". 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
  3. ^ "Pam was in on 'Borat' joke". New York Post. 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
  4. ^ "Trivia for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan". IMDB. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  5. ^ "Video Press Conference: Jagshemash! Borat Speaks! Nice..." IESB.net: The Movie Reporter. 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  6. ^ "Ali G. ist 'Borat', Der lustigste Mann der Welt". Süddeutsche.de (website of Süddeutsche Zeitung). 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2006-11-04. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  7. ^ "Fox scales back 'Borat' movie's opening". The Los Angeles Times. 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  8. ^ "American cinemas close doors on new Borat movie". Daily Mail. 2006-10-26.
  9. ^ "Borat film 'tricked' poor village actors". Daily Mail.
  10. ^ http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1113061borat1.html
  11. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6136944.stm
  12. ^ http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/breaking_news/15980006.htm
  13. ^ http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/15984153.htm
  14. ^ http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_179/howiwasduped.html
  15. ^ "***". The Clarion-Ledger.
  16. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226960,00.html
  17. ^ "***". The Roanoke Times.
  18. ^ "'Borat' roped in Va. crowd".
  19. ^ "***". The Birmingham News.
  20. ^ "***". The Sun.
  21. ^ "***". Salon Entertainment.
  22. ^ http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/15963305.htm
  23. ^ "A Recap From the World's Leading Boratologist". Harper's. 4 October 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ "Moscow gives 'Borat' a thumb's down: Satirical film fails to get certification"". New York Times. 9 November 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Now Gypsies want Borat banned". Sydney Morning Herald. October 18, 2006.
  26. ^ "Roma und Sinti Verbände stoppen „Zigeuner" Kampagne zu Borat" (pdf). Europäisches Zentrum für Antiziganismusforschung. 2006-10-27. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  27. ^ Template:Ru icon "GosKino Equated Borat Sagdiev to Pornography". Lenta.ru. 2006-11-08.
  28. ^ "Dubai no to Borat". 7days.ae. 2006-11-02.
  29. ^ "'Borat' just might be the funniest movie ever". Minneapolis Star Tribune. 2006-11-02. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  30. ^ Hirschorn, Michael (November 2006). "Thank You, YouTube: DIY video is making merely professional television seem stodgy, slow, and hopelessly last century". The Atlantic Monthly: 147.
  31. ^ "Borat movie reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2006-11-05.
  32. ^ "'Borat' Goes Wild - #1 on Friday Night". Fox News. 2006-11-04. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  33. ^ "Borat Shocks Hollywood". Entertainment Weekly. 2006-11-05. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  34. ^ http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=17380
  35. ^ CNN
  36. ^ sky-is-falling.co.uk, gross per weekend chart (see archive), all time ranking per front page headline (not permanently linkable).
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