Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was announced only a few weeks before its release. Taking place 14 years after the original, the sequel takes aim at Trump supporters, QAnon truthers and Covid protesters. While the movie is not as shocking as its predecessor, it’s filled with lots of laughs and clever (and often vulgar) jabs at America.
Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) has spent the last decade and a half in a gulag after his documentary made his country a laughing stock for the world. He is released by the government to undertake another journey to America. His mission is to bribe ‘Vice Premier’ Mike Pence with a monkey and gain favor for his country. When things go awry, however, Borat has to shift gears and try to present his teenage daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) as a child bride to Pence. Tutar, however, soon discovers that women have more agency in the US than in her home country, where women live in cages.
A lot of things have changed since the first film. Borat is a lot more recognizable across America, so Cohen often has to wear disguises when appearing in public. Granted, this does lead to a memorable gag where Borat dresses up as Trump and tries to present Tutar to Mike Pence during a conservatives conference. The incident even made it to the news when it happened, but no one suspected it was Cohen in disguise.
While the humor can be crass at moments, the main comedy is in how Cohen and Bakalova get people to display their gullibility and vileness.
During a debutante ball, one of the fathers of the women present remarks he would pay $500 to buy Tutar. Then there’s a moment where Borat gets a crowd of lockdown protesters to gleefully join a chant of chopping up journalists ‘like Saudis do’. The most talked about moment in the film is when Tutar gets Rudy Giuliani alone in a hotel room during an interview and Giuliani appears to put his hands inside his trousers. Giuliani, of course, has vehemently denied he was doing anything inappropriate.
Maria Bakalova steals her scenes as Tutar. She transforms herself as she grows from wanting to be like Melania, who she has grown up idolizing after watching a weird (and creepy) Disney-like animated feature reimagining the First Lady as a Cinderella like figure. She is constantly surprised at women being allowed to do anything, be it driving, reading or anything else. Her most treasured book is a children’s story book that warns women against pleasuring themselves, or else they will die a painful death.
Borat Subsequent Film is not as shocking as its predecessor was, but it’s a timely satire that almost feels like an election special.
Not all characters in the film are immoral or power hungry. In fact, even the QAnon followers are portrayed as being loyal and trusting to a fault. Still, as a satire it is mostly successful, making the case that, yes, Borat can still be relevant in 2020. It’s unlikely to change anyone’s minds when it comes to the election, but it’s a hilarious film that makes its point without retreading the original.