In my limited experience with the Borat character, he has managed to be completely poliltically incorrect and get away with it in the guise of cultural ignorance. Apparently that Kazakh leaders feel some damage control is needed to protect their image.
This week it was also announced that Kazakhstan will be funding a movie of their own in order to help overcome the stereotypes. If they were smart, they would have made a comedy about a dumb American going around Kazakhstan and pissing people off with his ignorance. But instead they have decided to make a movie called Nomads, “about the struggle of Kazakh tribes to expel Mongol invaders”.
Now I find this funny that a Brit (Sacha Baron Cohen) playing a Kazakh has managed to create a stereotype that they feel needs to get confronted… with a story about nomadic tribes? I agree with FilmJunk when they suggest having an ignorant American (not syaing they are ignorant, get your fingers off that email button) doing the same as Borat, and see how they react, but I dont know that it would be as funny. Maybe to the Kazakhs.
I would however, like to see a movie where people from Kazakhstan are not presented in reference to some terrorist movie like in Peacemaker, and Borat kind of does that. It takes a light hearted poke at things you cannot say to people. It happens to use a foriegn culture to deliver that, so be it.
I dont see this as a poor commentary on Kazakhstan, but clearly their government feels different. They are willing to put 40million dollars into the production of this movie to illustrate their historical struggle against the Mongolians.
I wonder if the Mongol Leadership will take offense to their people being presented as the badguys, and produce their own $40million project to deal with that?
