"Borat-2": an incredibly daring comedy, which is sometimes scary

In the image of Borat, the actor ridiculed the stereotypes and stupidity of American society, which perceives many peoples as wild and backward in development. But not everyone appreciated the irony. After the release of the comedy, representatives of Kazakhstan expressed their dissatisfaction, and before the release of the sequel, there were calls on social networks to ban both the first film and the second. Given the denouement of the continuation, the outrage is likely to only intensify.

The second part, which is fully titled "Borat: The Gift of a Pornographic Monkey to Deputy Prime Minister Michael Pence for the Benefit of the Recently Diminished People of Kazakhstan", sometimes seems secondary: the same genre of mocumentari, pranks of ordinary people and many provocations. But the film makes up for all this with greater relevance. You can even say that he is more evil, although he remains incredibly funny.

Holistic plot

After the events of the first film, journalist Borat Sagdiev fell out of favor with the President of Kazakhstan, and he was sent to the Gulag. Meanwhile, the villain Barack Obama nearly destroyed the United States. But a savior came - President Donald Trump, who forged relations with the main world leaders: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Jair Bolsonaro and Kanye West. I just forgot about Kazakhstan.

Borat is sent to the United States to appease the new leader and give his assistant Michael Pence the monkey Johnny, the minister of culture and the first porn star of Kazakhstan. But the container with a valuable gift turns out to be the journalist's daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova). Thinking, Borat decides to give it to Pence.

The first film, in fact, was a set of gags: Sasha Baron Cohen simply provoked random oncoming people, and the overall plot seemed very formal. The sequel is a completely holistic story, where individual scenes are connected very gracefully. There are only a few clearly drawn transitions.

Cohen does not forget about the legacy of the first part. Since Borat has become a star in America and is recognized on the streets, the hero has to change his clothes. He tries on different images of supposedly typical Americans - and infiltrates a Republican meeting, gets a job as a hairdresser and even participates in a rally against quarantine.

But it is important that the main connecting link is not even the line with the gift, but the development of Borat's relationship with his daughter. This is at the same time the funniest and most touching part of the picture.

Maria Bakalova clearly has a great acting future. On the one hand, in comic scenes, she comes off and fooling around no worse than Cohen, on the other, she creates a full-fledged character. And for all the grotesqueness of what is happening for the relationship of the main characters, I want to sincerely experience that turns "Borat-2" from pure satire into a real movie.

Lots of politics

Unlike the completely social first part, Borat-2 pays a lot of attention to the elections. One can only complain that this time the presentation looks more one-sided than in the series of the same Sasha Baron Cohen "Who is America?" Then the comedian made the same joke on all the leaders and their followers. Now his target is exclusively Donald Trump supporters. But this is quite understandable, especially since Amazon wittily released a comedy just in time for the elections, and the first promotions were based on the mocking “support” of the president.

First of all, of course, goes to Trump, and along with his wife Melania. They even shot a separate cartoon in the spirit of "Cinderella", only very obscene. But in passing in "Borat-2" they manage to catch many of the president's supporters. Moreover, Cohen, as it were, unobtrusively and in passing, recalls both the number of convicted politicians and the history of their relationships with women.

The heat reaches its apotheosis in the scene of an interview with Rudolph Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer and former mayor of New York. The politician himself has already stated that he did not know about the filming of the film. And it seems that there is a high probability that after the release of "Borat-2" he may have serious problems with further activities. In the days of #MeToo, such actions are not forgiven.

Shot from the film "Borat-2"

The matter is not limited to the politicians themselves. Borat also communicates with ordinary people who support Trump. And here laughter is replaced by anxiety. Of course, this can again be attributed to a one-sided presentation: there are enough fools in any country in the world. But still, people who seriously argue that others should be restricted in their rights, and who happily sing along to songs calling for killing, look creepy.

Most provocative topics

But the hardest part of the film has nothing to do with politics. The new "Borat" manages to go through all the pressing problems: from the objectification of women to the COVID-19 pandemic. And at the same time reveals the true attitude of people towards each other.

Everyone whom the hero meets seems friendly, polite and, most importantly, they do not meddle in the affairs of others. Therefore, a simple worker helpfully helps Borat to nail Tutar in a wooden box, and the doctor tries not to pay attention to hints that the father seduced his own minor daughter.

Yes, Borat is a fictional grotesque character who makes complete game. But real people agree with him, or at least don't interfere. And this is sometimes scary.

The idea of sexualizing children in Borat II is much more graphic than in Netflix's clumsy Cuties. And you just can't forget: Kazakhstan in this story is fictional, made up of an evil British comedy, the play of the Bulgarian actress Bakalova and the motives of the Serbian composer Bregovich, but America is real.

Therefore, the scene at the ball, where the fathers are, in fact, doing the same thing as Borat, looks as unpleasant as possible. He only reveals the ins and outs of this society, directly asking the price for his daughter.

Shot from the movie "Borat 2"

But, perhaps, the most touching moment is the communication of the protagonist with two elderly Jewish women. Alas, they clearly have to prove their human origins and the reality of the Holocaust far from just a stupid fictional journalist.

Of course, "Borat-2" in the first place and remains a daring satirical comedy. Sacha Baron Cohen still grimaces a lot, changes costumes and pounds coronavirus with a frying pan. But the advantage of the sequel is that it not only repeats the moves of the first part, but inscribes actual modern themes into them.

And so watching a new movie is not only fun, but important. It makes you think about how the current society corresponds to those dogmas that are declared publicly. Perhaps, in reality, it is still too reminiscent of that fictional Kazakhstan, which everyone is so offended by.