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BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

Once upon a time, mention of Borat Sagdiyev would conjure but a shrug in pubs, playgrounds, or newsrooms around the world. Some may recognise the moustachioed, misogynist, and rampantly racist TV reporter from Kazakhstan as, in fact, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, the man behind Ali G.  Yet in recent months, Borat has caused an international furore and become a genuine worldwide phenomenon. He is everywhere; at Film Festivals clad in a green thong, offering to sell his children to "the singing transvestite, Madonna", and prompting broadsheet debate on the morality of lampooning such taboo subjects as anti-Semitism. Baron Cohen's brilliantly conceived comic creation even attracted a personal complaint to George W Bush from the Kazakh President. The Kazakhs at first tried to sue Cohen, before finally hiring a western PR firm to launch a marketing offensive and inviting the comedian to visit their suddenly notorious country in a desperate attempt to save its fledgling tourist industry.

Based on the opening minutes of this devastatingly hilarious mockumentary, what kind of welcome Baron Cohen would get from the average Kazakh on the street is perhaps dubious. Borat's Kazakhstan is a stereotype of the Central Asian ex-soviet state, replete with village rapist, kids with guns, and a sister he introduces as "the fourth best prostitute in Kazakhstan." Yet it isn't until Borat is unleashed on America, that the real target of Baron Cohen's situationist satire is exposed.

In a maelstrom of outrageous slapstick, we follow Borat on a road trip from New York to LA, and through various encounters with an incredulous and unsuspecting public. In New York, he releases chickens from his suitcase on a packed subway, attempts to kiss male passers-by on both cheeks, and unpacks in the hotel elevator assuming it is his room. At a bible-belt rifle shop, he asks for the "best gun to protect me from Jews" (Without a moments hesitation, the owner replies: "That'd be a 9mm or a .45".). At dinner with Southern Etiquette experts, he orders a prostitute between courses. At a Texas Rodeo, he leads the crowd in a chorus of cheers for the "War of Terror" and hopes George Bush "drinks the blood of every man woman and child in Iraq!" The slow fog of unease that blows through the crowd as they realise they have been duped is priceless.

Under the guise of the hopelessly na�ve Borat, Baron Cohen can say the unsayable and in the process expose all manner of prejudice. When the spectacularly anti-semitic Borat says his country has three problems: "economic, social and Jew", we can assume Baron Cohen - who is Jewish � does not share that opinion.  Placed next to some particularly repellent Frat Boys gorged on beer and porn, Borat even briefly seems sophisticated by comparison.

The relentless thrill of the film comes from the way it fearlessly skirts around the edges of acceptable behaviour, forcing you to laugh at the sheer 'wrongness' of it all. At times, it goes beyond satire into pure, jaw dropping anarchy. But it is never less than overwhelmingly hilarious; a painfully perfect, shockingly funny experience.

DVD Extras

• Kazakh Police Warning Video
• 2 trailers
• "Sexy Drown Watch" - Bay Watch spoof
• 5 delete scenes
• 'Best of' deleted scenes montage
• Rodeo News Report
• Borat Promotional Tour For Make Benefit Movie Film
• Soundtrack Infomercial featuring Borat