Borat

"If it is not success I will be execute," says the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev, who is played by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. He stars in the controversial and number-one box office mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The film, which is directed by Larry Charles, follows Borat on a tour of the United States. Producers from 20th Century Fox hoped that reducing the number of theaters showing the film from 2,000 to 800 would help generate word-of-mouth buzz, which has paid off quite well. This off-beat satire raised protests even before its Nov. 3 release.

In interviews, Cohen is always in character as Borat. Commenting on the uproar over his film, Borat said, "This film have been very controversial in my country because of amount of anti-Semitism in it. However, eventually our censor decide there was enough and allow its release," as quoted on ocregister.com.

Legal actions against the film have already been filed by two fraternity members from South Carolina who say there were humiliated in the film. Kazak officials have also threatened to sue because of its crude portrayal as a country which is very anti-Semitic and backwards. Russia's Culture Agency has also refused to license the film.

Borat was even on the agenda of visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's meeting with President George Bush. A recent feature in National Public Radio's All Things Considered had Kazakhstan embassy spokesman Roman Vassilenko responding to the film. He said that the film has offended many, and the Kazakhstan government is running large media ads in the United States to show what the "real" Kazakhstan is like.

Vessilenko also said that the public relations blitz coincided with Nazarbayev's recent trip to the United States. He argued that the film is a great opportunity to tell the true story of Kazakhstan.

"[Borat] claims that the Kazakhs are very anti-Semitic people and that running of the Jews is the famous pastime. That is, of course, ridiculous." Vassilenko added, "Kazakhstan has a very vibrant Jewish community."

In real life, Cohen comes from an Orthodox Jewish family and is a practicing Jew. The 35-year-old comic attended Christ's College at Cambridge and speaks fluent Hebrew. Accordingly, in Borat, every ethnic group is fair game.

In the film, Borat encounters feminists, high-brow civil society, random strangers on a New York train, and countless others. At one point, he yells, "We support your war of terror!" to a cheering rodeo audience.

Humor can be tricky, and what's funny to one is repulsive to another. Some have expressed concern over whether or not audiences will understand that the film is meant as satire.

It is also possible that a film could encourage and mock racism at the same time. One can only imagine what the people Borat encounters say of him once he has left and is out of earshot.

The controversy surrounding the film may partly explain its mass appeal as a guilty pleasure of sorts. Regardless, Borat helps unearth the racism that barely lies beneath the surface in our everyday American lives. It achieves this in an oddly entertaining and profound way.