Friday, January 26, 2007

Why We Fight Borat!



I took a break from the marathons of The West Wing that has plagued my weekends to watch a couple of movies that have released in the last year. I am still working on seeing something in the theater. This is an odd combination, I agree, but these are the two that I have selected for recent review. Borat and Why We Fight.

The first one that I saw was Eugene Jarecki’s documentary Why We Fight. It is an alternate look at the reasons for war, and more importantly the warning of the importance of the military industrial complex. It seems that if you look at the recent events in the Middle East, the country is highly displeased with the actions of George W. Bush. It starts with warnings from former General/President Eisenhower of the implications of the overuse of power and the military industrial complex. Then flash-forwards to the mess that we are in with the current administration.

With the uses of interviews of several ex-military personel, some higher-ups in the military, and one touching interview with a kid that joined the military after his mother’s death Jarecki constructs the statement of disapproval of the Bush administration. Our world has grown-up and evolved, while the United States has gradually gotten weaker and weaker since the end of the cold war. Jarecki tells us through his interviews that through wars we get stronger and grow economically.

I believe that there are two great interviews, among a slue of good interviews. One being the kid that is entering the military after the death of his mother. It is an interview that you start to yell at the screen, he lives alone, has only a few friends, and feels the financial burden of the world. All this adds up to the one conclusion he has in his mind: military. Constructed much like a good drama, he journey goes down the road that is filled with numerous pitfalls that could be avoided. The other interview, Wilton Sekzer, that really stands out is the Vietnam Vet who lost two sons in the falling of the Twin Towers. Sekzer is brutally honest, telling his story without any fear of consequences. It is almost if he goes through the whole gambit of emotions, he is first shocked, then angered, then patriotic, then after getting over his emotions he starts to investigate and find out the not whole noble intent of the military.

There are glimpses of smart bombs, military stock footage, press conferences with the President, gun shows, and adding up to a documentary that was a good glimpse into the obvious liberal view of the war. This documentary is not really for all people, but it is one that I enjoyed. Although it is highly biased, it works for what it is trying to achieve.

The next movie on the block was the boldly funny Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Although I was hesitant to see this at first, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of this film. There were times in this film when I was on the verge of tears, other times I was on the verge of throwing up. The thing that I was most impressed with was the guts that comic Sasha Baron Cohen. He swallowed his pride and truly gave this role all of his energy. I think anyone who can go up to the average American citizen and be in his Borat character without laughing at the outrageous dialogue and situation.

As far as the rest of the aspects of the film, they are shot documentary, shaky-cam style which wasn’t to the level of The Bourne Supremacy. By the way, that movie will forever be the barometer for excessive shaky-cam. Back to Borat, I love the broken English that is perfectly mispronounced and sentence misconstruction that made me laugh continually through the movie. Even the excessively long title makes me still chuckle today. I usually can’t say that much about a comedy without ruining a joke or two. They really aren’t inferior films or movies, they are just hard to talk about. This will make you laugh, but also you will be offended.

Okay, this whole movie is about laughing at all of the people that he has managed to offend. Because believe it or not, everyone who was on camera volunteered to be on camera in one way, shape or form. Not to go too deep on this, but I think that is the underlining brilliance of the movie. It cut to the bone the sick American dream that we as a people in this nation have. If there is a camera, we are obliged to perform in front of it. It is our duty as an American. We all want our 15 minutes of fame, no matter who you are. That is all for now… more soon, very soon!

1 Comments:

Blogger DODO said...

DODO,come.

1/26/2007 11:08 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home