The Dark Side of "Borat"

WordGirl and I took in Sascha Baron Cohen's new film "Borat" today. I admit that it was funny, and a couple of scenes had me laughing till tears rolled down my face. It was also vulgar and over-the-top.

It now appears to be very cruel as well.

I enjoy the mockumentary genre, but am quite used to it being loosely-scripted improv populated by performers. "Borat" is more in the "Jackass" vein, except that whereas Johnny Knoxville and the boys do harm to themselves for the entertainment of others, Cohen takes the opposite tack. That's wrong.

I admire Cohen's comic brilliance but it takes a sociopath to exploit people for the sake of making fun of them at the box office. Public figures such as those he mocked on "Da Ali G. Show" are one thing, poor villagers who have no idea what they're signing up for is quite another.

"Borat" is a brilliant satire of anti-Semitism, but it extracts too high a price to make its point.