HTF REVIEW: Borat - Cultural Learnings of America...

Michael Osadciw · 03-10-2007, 02:14 PM

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

Studio: 20th Century Fox
Film Year: 2006
Film Length: 86 min
Genre: Comedy

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 widescreen enhanced
Colour/B&W: Colour

Audio:

English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround

Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround

French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround

Russian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround

Hebrew Dolby Digital 2.0 surround (NOT! Jew)

Subtitles: English, Spanish
U.S. Film Rating: R
Canadian Film Rating: 14A

Release Date: March 06, 2007

Movie-Film Rating: /

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Sagdiyev), Ken Davitian (Azamat Bagatov)

Story by: Sacha Baron Cohen, et al.
Directed by: Larry Charles

Very nice!

Borat! Borat! Borat! If you have trimmed the hair in your ears in the past year, chances are you’ve heard of the Kazakh journalist, Borat. In his self-titled film, this fictional character leaves his native Kazakhstan to learn about American culture – the best culture in the world! Upon his arrival, he encounters disappointment after disappointment when meeting with many people who try to help him adjust to the cultural differences of his home country. While shooting this documentary, he becomes with obsessed with a picture of Pamela Anderson and is determined to go to California to marry her.

On his journey, he receives strong reactions from the unassuming public, adding to the amusement of this film. I just had difficulty figuring out what was staged and what wasn’t; it seemed a bit of both. The irregularities of this made the film a bit awkward to watch, but still delivering the laughs until the very end when Borat returns to his native Kazakhstan. The movie is a hilarious bit for adults, as its audience is geared to adults. I don’t recommend kids watching this film despite how funny and innocent the commercials look – but from what I hear in the classrooms I know kids are seeing this. C’mon parents, show a bit of responsibility!

The DVD has a cardboard slipcase over it; it’s needed because the artwork on the keepcase is all in Kazakh or Russian characters. There isn't a word of English on it. It’s faded and made to look like a homemade ‘download-and-print’ of a bootleg DVD. Even the disc is etched Borat with just a black marker. I thought it was a copied screener, but it was the real deal! Its creative packaging we’ve seen before on some music CDs addressing the piracy problem. Want crappy artwork? Here you go. Even the menus of the DVD look like a bootleg copy and almost everything is written in Kazakh with English subtitles over it. I love the low-fi Kazakhi anthem in the background...it adds to the authenticity.

VIDEO QUALITY: 3.5/5

Borat was shot mostly on HDTV video with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Theatrically it was presented on 35mm with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. This DVD appears to be sourced by an HD video copy without the film in between. The aspect ratio of this disc is 1.78:1 even though the packaging says 1.85:1. In all honesty, I’m not impressed. I found the source video to be a bit hazy and dull. It’s also much dimmer than I had expected and has a bit of clipped whites. I’ve seen some great HD video at DVD’s resolution and this title isn’t one of them. Colours look fine but don’t stand out as fantastic.

The documentary-style shooting of this picture doesn’t seem care for looking for fantastic shots and that’s fine given the film. Video noise, especially in darker parts of the image, is most likely a limitation of the HD cameras. DVD’s fine detail is present in the background crowd during Borat’s singing of Kazakhstan’s national anthem (ha!) and the only the only thing truly blurred out is Borat’s private part – but the other teabag is clearly distinguishable – yikes! I can’t say I was expecting that!!

AUDIO QUALITY: 3/5

The audio is no award winner. It’s supposed to be in Dolby Digital 5.1 audio but it really sounded like a 3.0 presentation. The surrounds were very quiet and there was rarely a moment of LFE (the latter not expected). The front soundstage is quite alive with sound effects and music to enhance the comedy while dialogue is firmly placed in the center speaker. Dialogue is a bit forward and I almost felt like turning down my center channel’s volume a decibel or two, but I don’t believe in that – I just listen to the mix as is: engaging, but not dynamic.

TACTILE FUN!! ZERO /
TACTILE TRANSDUCER ON/OFF?: OFF

SPECIAL FEATURES: 2/5

Bonus materials are a bit slim on this disc but at least they’re worth the watch. Have you missed the promotional campaigns for this film? You’ll get to see a wide variety of this sort in the Publicity Tour Montage (16m39s). It has clips from Conan O’Brian, Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes, and much more. It’s hilarious to watch, really. This feature is widescreen in a 4:3 window (pillarboxed).

Also just as hilarious to watch as the film are the deleted scenes and the deleted footage montage, about 30 minutes total. There is no play all function so you must select them from the menu. I enjoyed these scenes as much as the main film, if not a bit more that some. These are best enjoyed as a feature though; I think the film would have dragged if it were any longer than 90 minutes, so good choice on the cuts (all are 1.78:1 anamorphic)

The disc also includes a comical musical infomercial (1min) and theatrical trailers under the feature Coming to Kazakhstan in 2028 (trailers are National Lampoon’s Van Wilder – The Rise of Taj, Super Troopers, Grandma’s Boy).

IN THE END...

You want to know what the Borat hype is all about? This DVD is on sale at every outlet – there’s no escaping this man!! Give in and see how the cultural learnings of America make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan.

Michael Osadciw
March 10, 2007.

Ronald Epstein · 03-10-2007, 02:52 PM

Just saw this a few days ago, and I have to say that it was
one of the most hysterical movies I have ever seen.

I still can't believe the naked wrestling scene inside the
hotel room between Borat and his Producer. It just amazes
me how far a comedian will go for a laugh.

Fox did a superb job on the DVD packaging. I really had to
laugh at how they made this DVD look like a bootleg. Additionally,
they did a superb job on designing the menu and features, though
as Bill Hunt stated in his review, there are quite a few more
deleted bits that I had the opportunity to see last year that never
made it to this DVD.

We are now into the third month of the year, and this is my
favorite DVD title thus far.

Nice job on this DVD, Fox!

Michael Osadciw · 03-10-2007, 02:54 PM

I agree with the menus...totally bootlegged - fantastic! ...and that wrestling scene...WHOA! I guess we'll have to encourage everyone to see it for themselves!!!!!!!!

Patrick McCart · 03-10-2007, 04:29 PM

This is one of the funniest movies I've seen. In fact, the packaging and menus made me laugh just as hard. If Fox hadn't issued both P&S and 16x9 versions, they should have just omitted the slipcover so you'd only see the "bootleg" cover on the shelves.

Of course, it's not for the faint of heart. The naked fight comes out of nowhere, which makes it even funnier. The IMDB says $18 million was spent on the production, so they must have paid off a ton of money to the "victims" of Borat's antics.

Thommy...M · 03-10-2007, 04:38 PM

Great movie, wish the DVD had more. However, what we get in those deleted scenes is really great stuff. I'm thankful for that.

It's great that the DVD has fun with the conventions of DVDs. The bootleg look is hilarious as is the joke when you go to the language selection menu and click on HEBREW....

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Brent M · 03-10-2007, 05:42 PM

Easily one of the funnies movies I've seen in the past few years. I laughed so hard at times I thought I was going to pass out. A very big

.

Adam_WM · 03-10-2007, 08:56 PM

My wife and I almost died last night from laughing so hard at this. HILLARIOUS.

RobertSiegel · 03-10-2007, 09:45 PM

Usually, I can handle all types of humor and I found this movie very funny, though I would laugh much harder at Pink Panther and that type of humor. I am usually not offended, and I know this film is meant to do that, but for the first time in ages, I was offended at the Jewish thing, especially coming from a Jewish writer and director. Did it really have to be that harsh? We all know the teens will be watching this or owning it, what does this say to them, that it's cool to tease and degrade the Jews (Yes, you guessed it I am Jewish). I know this was all in humor, but it scares me to think how it will affect the younger age group and their opinion. In school, I was teazed terribly for being Jewish, (I am very proud of my heritage) I suppose that sticks with you, and when ciewing something like this, it all comes back, and I hope that this doesn't carry on to schools today with all these people in their younger years watching it.

No, I don't want to start a political talk here. This is just my opinion. The movie was very funny, I really laughed, but didn't think it necessary to go that far. It would have been a little more "even" for a Jewish person watching this if they had extended the jokes to include other religions. My 76 year old mother (she is very cool) watched with me and laughed alot, but also felt the same.