W E D N E S D AY, O C TO B E R 1 1 , 2 0 0 6Borat and Jesus CampSaw two movies yesterday. "Borat" was side-splittingly funny, far betterthan any episode of "Ali G' or anything Sacha Baron Cohen has donebefore.</p><p> I kept thinking of Jackass, oddly, even though there's nothingas scatalogical here.</p><p> It must be the Candid Camera-like feel to theirdocumentary about America.</p><p> Borat gets everyone from frat boys to arodeo cowboy to an etiquette teacher in Birmingham, Alabama to saythe most outrageous, hateful things.</p><p> It's hilarious.</p><p> But what gives themovie focus are the staged bits of comedy, including a visit to Borat'shome village in Kazhakstan (where we get to see the annual Running ofthe Jew) to his naked wrestling fight with his hugely overweighttraveling companion.</p><p> It's both extremely juvenile and very smart(Monty Python comes to mind here, too) and I'm amazed that they gotPamela Anderson to let them use footage of her. (Assuming she wasn'tin on the joke.) Newsweek talks to some of the people who are shownup to be the ignorant fools that they are.</p><p> Most of them seem resigned;wait till they see the movie.</p><p> As you can see in this photo; Borat has noshame.</p><p> Definitely one of the best of the year and very original.I followed it up with Jesus Camp, the documentary about summercamp for kids run by fundamentalist Christian evangelicals.</p><p> I don'tknow why the people in the film distanced themselves from it.</p><p> Andthose claiming it makes them look like the Middle Eastern madrassasare just being silly.</p><p> The references to "war" here are obviouslymetaphorical and these people are just passing on their values to theirkids the same way every parent does.</p><p> Yes, most mainstream viewerswill laugh at their expense once or twice (like the scene where one adultscreams vehemently at the kids that Harry Potter is a warlock and if hewere alive in the Old Testament he would be PUT TO DEATH!).</p><p> Uh, sowould women who thought they could lead people in prayer.</p><p> Butoverall, it's a balanced interesting look at their lives and how they bothisolate themselves from the world and try to reach out.</p><p> I found it mostupsetting to see the little eight or nine year old kids weeping in anguishduring certain sermons.</p><p> Presumably they would see a beautiful sight ofkids accepting Jesus and wanting to end their sins.</p><p> I saw little childrenmade to feel dirty and ashamed (how sinful can an eight year old kid beand should they really be wracked with guilt?).</p><p> Very interesting film.</p><p> Next Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Borat and Jesus Camphttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/10/borat-and-jesus-camp.html 1 of 37/28/09 5:26 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SAaronBiboyMichael in New York POPSURFING.COM: Borat and Jesus Camphttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/10/borat-and-jesus-camp.html 2 of 37/28/09 5:26 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Borat and Jesus Camphttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/10/borat-and-jesus-camp.html 3 of 37/28/09 5:26 PM
