thedriveintheatre

A cheekier title would’ve been a “A look-behind at the gayest movie of all-time”

Ach, Brüno… I remember a news report about his fiasco in the Milan fashion festival a few years before the film’s release. Kinda disappointed with this movie because unlike Borat, he doesn’t actually capitalise on his character’s homosexuality to ‘test’ people’s prejudice and homophobia.

Basically, he is unlikeable regardless if he was gay. No person can put up with the amount of sexual harrassment he puts on, even if that person was gay. He’s just unlikeable - period. Whereas with Borat, he ‘baits’ racist and prejudiced Americans with his naive ignorance. There are, of course, obvious pranks which no sane person would be so tolerant of (like his bringing out his poop in a sandwich bag to a dinner party, for example), but there are others like his singing of “Throwing Jews Down the Well” or his singing of the Kazakhstan national anthem (fake, of course) at the rodeo which brilliantly brings out the worst in humanity.

“In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine Sacha Baron Cohen discussed Borat’s anti-Semitism, “Borat essentially works as a tool, by himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudice, whether it’s anti-Semitism or an acceptance of anti-Semitism”
- The Unofficial Borat Homepage

And of course, there are touching moments in Borat like when he has to say goodbye to his chicken companion - my brother’s heart and mine went out to him! He was an endearing and sweet-natured character, even if he was an ignorant, anti-Semitic, misogynistic racist who didn’t know better.

Bruno, on the other hand, is just offensive and he knows he is, but he doesn’t care. There is one saving grace though, and it is the climatic cage battle. That must singlehandedly be Sacha Baron Cohen’s magnum opus of dangerous stunts, even more so than his meeting with the terrorist leader earlier on in the movie. The crowd could have simply walked out (and some of the more reasonable ones did) if they were offended by the performance, but their aggressive reaction (verbal slurs, throwing of projectiles, attempts to demolish the set) was unwarranted.

Be aware though, that while the reaction was authentic, the ‘setting-up’ was precisely calibrated to get the maximum response. The participants were allegedly lured to what they thought was a real wrestling match, and given an open tab to drink as much as they like. Plus, openly-homophobic T-shirts were distributed to sort of ‘prime’ them into an anti-gay mood.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/07/09/how-real-is-br-no.html

BUT that is NO excuse for the kind of behaviour they displayed. If I was tricked into seeing two gays kissing instead of a smackdown, I would simply walk out and demand a refund. Maybe I’d keep the homophobic shirt as a souvenir (since I paid for it, but I wouldn’t wear it), but I wouldn’t go and get p*ss-drunk or throw bottles at them. The crowd exhibited no self-control or restraint. It really goes to show how some people can be so filled with hatred to the point of retaliating with violence simply because they saw two men kissing. And the sad thing is, this also happens to real-life homosexuals without the fancy bait-and-switch cage match setting.

Oh, and I enjoy Da Ali G show (almost at the end of the 2nd and final season), and I plan to watch the movie. :)