Main Product Genre Analysis

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious

Nation of KazakhstanPlotBorat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan follows Kazakh TV reporter ‘Borat Sagdiyev’ (Sacha Baron Cohen), who is sent from his home in Kazakhstan to the United States by the Ministry of Information. His mission is to produce a documentary about the American society and culture. Along the way, Borat becomes enthralled by Pamela Anderson after seeing ‘Baywatch’ and hijacks the trip to find her and take her to be his wife.

The film follows Borat and his producer ‘Azamat Bagatov’ across America as they make their documentary about a USA comprised mostly of stereotypes.

Production & Theatrical ReleaseThe film was produced by ‘Four by Two’, ‘Everyman Pictures’ and ‘One America’; in association with ‘Dune Entertainment’ and ‘Major Studio Partners’. The film was produced on a budget of $18 million. Opening weekend box office revenue in the USA was $26,455,463 from 837 theatres, box office revenue in the UK was £6,242,344 from 428 cinemas. It beat ‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause’ and ‘Flushed Away’ to the top spot in November 2006.

Critical Response‘Borat’ received critical acclaim and gained a 7.3/10 rating on the user based review site ‘IMDb’, it also holds a high ‘Metascore’ of 89/100. Borat was nominated for several awards, the film was nominated for ‘Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay’ at the Academy Awards and in 2008, the film won a Golden Globe for ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture’. The film was also nominated for awards by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Writer’s Guild of America and the San Francisco Film Critics Cirlce. It also won a place in ’Top Ten Films’ from Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards in its release year, 2006.

Production‘Kazakhstan’ was shot in Romania rather than Kazakhstan, perhaps because the content of the film was not especially generous towards the Kazakhs. Cohen’s Kazakhstan was actually ‘Glod: a remote mountain outpost with no sewerage or running water and where locals eke out meagre livings peddling scrap iron or working patches of land.’ According to the Daily Mail. The residents of Glod later accused the comedian of exploiting them, after discovering that the film portrayed them as rapists, abortionists and prostitutes, who engage in casual incest. They claimed the producers lied to them about the true nature of the project, leading them to believe they were making a documentary about their hardship, rather than a comedy mocking their way of life.

The opening credits of ‘Borat’ run about five minutes into the film, after an opening sequence establishes the plot. The title sequence chronicles Borat’s journey, using two dimensional animated elements showing Borat’s route across countries to get to the US. The titles appear old fashioned, with connotations of the Soviet Union, they are graded with a dull yellow/sepia tone and added film grain. The titles reflect the film’s portrayal of Kazakhstan, using dull muddy colours such as browns, oranges and yellows. Accompanying the titles is a traditional Eastern European style song that is associated with the ethnic communities in places like Kazakhstan.

‘Borat’ is usually wearing a grey suit, this is the most prominent costume in the film. This shows that he is apparently a professional, at the same time, the outdated style of his suit reflects his lack of affinity with the modern world. A signature moment of the film is Borat’s adoption of the ‘mankini’, this preposterous costume, that Borat considers appropriate, adds an element of comic surprise as the bright ‘mankini’ is in contrast to his usual dull exterior. There are multiples uses of clothing featuring the American flag; reminding the audience of the setting and how overly patriotic the nation supposedly is. The constant use of the flag also helps give the insults Borat levels at the people he meets more gravitas.

The film features largely a mix of high-key and natural lighting. This mix reflects the upbeat nature of the film and reflects the documentary style where there is often no artificial lighting or only single point lighting. The biggest visual impace created by low-key lighting is when ‘Borat’ finds himself destitute. His emotional breakdown on the sidewalk is punctuated by this low blue glow of moonlight that connotes sadness,

provoking empathy from the audience.

An important prop in the film was the use of a live chicken which serves as a running joke as, for the entirety of the time that ‘Borat’ is in America, the chicken is in ‘Borat’s’ hand luggage. The match-on-action shot of ‘Borat’ dropping his bag followed by a clucking sound is one instance where this prop adds comic value. The vehicle chosen for the characters to travel around in was an old ice cream truck, adding to the theme of the characters being on a budget, disorganised and generally scruffy. Borat’s discovery of ‘Baywatch’ and Pamela Anderson’s image become significant props as they then dictate the storyline.

The standout performance in the film is, of course, Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat who portrays Kazakhs as a backwards people and manages to do this a comedic and convincing way. Despite being portrayed as backwards, the Kazakhs are seen to be kinder and innocent, in contrast to this, the Americans are shown to be pompous and self-absorbed. Much of the dialogue was semi-improvised, testament to high quality of actors in the film.

The cinematography in ‘Borat’ was typical of the documentary style, the camera was mostly handheld, helping to create the ‘fly on the wall’ effect. This style puts the audience in the film, standing on the sidelines, thus increasing viewer immersion. The numerous establishing shots aid the story progression, as the film is constantly changing location these shots are necessary to avoid audience confusion. There frequent use of two shots and interviews generally from one perspective are characteristic of a single camera documentary and add to a feeling of close conversation, assisted by some close-up reaction shots. The medium/long shots with slow zooms through adds the effect of spying and intrigue, thus adding jeopardy.

There are some tracking shots when the characters are driving the ice-cream van, followed by some handheld over-the-shoulder shots inside the van to again increase viewer immersion. The over the shoulder shots also put the viewer into the position of whoever’s shoulder they are looking over. The film also incorporates a small number of group shots, connoting teamwork aided by point of view shots.

Dialogue dominates the non-diegetic soundscape in this film. The majority of diegetic sound in the film is the soundtrack which reflects the geographical location the character is in; in Kazakhstan, eastern European/Asian sounding music is played, in America, country & western and rock is played. This a convention of all documentaries as the use of a diegetic soundtrack that is defined by on-screen features adds entertainment value and helps guide the viewer. The dominance of non-diegetic sound helps maintain realism and increases viewer immersion by reducing the amount of perceived post-processing.

Editing techniques used on ‘Borat’ include: time-lapses, shot/reverse shots and montages. The time-lapses help pass the time and the shot/reverse shots during conversation help keep the tempo of the film higher. Montages are used infrequently to increase pace and maintain narrative continuity whilst only implying that continuity. The film uses the visual effect of a moving superimposed map to help the viewers understand how far we have travelled. Additional VFX include graphics from news channels such as lower-third banners and news tickers which are realistic representations of news channels.

The end credits of ‘Borat’ feature a mock national anthem of Kazakhstan, accompanied by videos of ‘manly’ activities such as ice swimming. The videos are made to look as the opening credits, aged and dated, with connotations of the Soviet Union. The text credits are designed to look like typewriter-era labels that were commonly used at the time of the Cold War and suggest that Kazakhstan has yet to get computers. The end

credits have an industrial look, which fits the portrayal of Kazakhstan as a country that doesn’t have advanced industry and has yet to embrace the 21st century.