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Gaza Under Hamas: From Islamic Democracy to Islamist Governance

Bjorn Brenner and Magnus Ranstorp

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Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU, the USA and the UN. It has made...

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Borat (2006) in Movies

Oct 22, 2020

Borat (2006)

2006 | Comedy

6.0

(24 Ratings)

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It can not be understated how important Sacha Baron Cohen is in the modern comedy landscape. His particular brand of satire has always stirred up controversy, but has always been appealing to me. He arguably hit his peak during Ali G in the USAiii, where he posed as multiple characters, namely Ali G, Brüno, and Borat. It was only a matter of time before the latter got his own feature film.

Borat is offensive in so many ways, but I'll be damned if it isn't clever. The character is anti-semitic, sexist, and homophobic. Of course, Cohen himself isn't any of these things, but this role he plays truly brings out the worst in real life people that he interviews for his "documentary". As soon as he says something unorthodox, his subject will let their guard down, feel comfortable, and join in. It's quite something, and results in Cohen exposing the ugliness of somenof these people.
The over-arching narrative is thread bare (and honestly not intended to be the main focus) but climaxes in such a hilariously surreal fashion.

I'm not conviced that some of the stuff in this movie would fly now (at the time of writing, the second Borat movie is due to release tomorrow so we will see!), but Cohen's recent series, Who Is America?, showed clear as day that he is still as sharp, brutal, and out for blood as he ever has been.
Borat is another fine semi-exposé, that is frequently hilarious, and constantly disturbing, that is still as relevant and needed now as it was back in 2006.