Make Cultural Learnings for the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

So... it should be apparent that I went to see Borat over the weekend.

It was a... strange... movie. 90% of it was really good, I thought. Crude, yes. Definitely not a movie to take the kids to, or to take your grandmother to. Also rather racist. But before you explode over that, you have to realize that it is SO racist, in such an over-the-top way that the only thing it can reasonably do is make you take a look at yourself, and whether you're racist or not.

For the most part, therefore, I conclude that Borat was hilariously funny, but only to be seen by those who have: 1) thick-skin around raciness and 2) no over-sensitivity to over-the-top humour. The second is very important. It's easy to see WHY Kazakhstan is upset over the movie, but at the same time... they clearly have the 98th-worst-sense of humour in the world, as mentioned in the film. The movie is SO over-stereotyped that I don't think there's any way a half-intelligent being could really call it anti-Kazakh propaganda.

The movie was definitely enjoyable, from my point of view, if only because it tilted unrestrainedly at our holy cow of "Political Correctness".

However...

Now comes the bad news.

I cannot recommend Borat to anybody because of an ATROCIOUS scene 3/4 of the way or so through. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW.

I definitely did NOT need to see a 10-minute chase/fight/sexual innuendo-laden scene of two naked men. And the fact that one of them was in the 400 lbs. range definitely didn't help any. It was brutal, awful, and I'm still scarred.

Good movie... but I cannot recommend it.

Meanwhile, I also saw "The Departed" over the weekend. Not any better in terms of moral offerings, but a much classier production. A very well-made film, and a well-written story. I've not decided if I like the way they wrapped up the denouément, but a well-done film regardless. Again, not a movie I'll ever preach about from the pulpit... but one that I'd be more willing to recommend to the less easily-offended of my acquaintances.