Bonus: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) Script Review
Although not an instant classic as its predecessor, Sacha Baron Cohen revives his most memorable character for a timely sequel that manages to pack enough laughs to make it worth the return.
Logline: 14 years later, Kazakh TV talking head Borat is once again dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world, only this time with his daughter unwittingly in tow.
Written by: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern
Story by: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad
Based on: Borat Sagdiyev, created by Sacha Baron Cohen
Pages: 120
Unlike its predecessor, there happens to be an actual screenplay to the Borat sequel. However, sharp-eyed readers might realize that for a mockumentary that relies a great deal on unscripted interactions with real people, this screenplay more or less corresponds to the events in the film. Which would be impossible. That’s because the script available is, in fact, a transcribed screenplay; no doubt made available in time for awards consideration.
In truth, there is no shooting screenplay for Borat Subsequent Movie: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, at least not in the conventional sense. The sheer delight in this kind of picture is in witnessing Sacha Baron Cohen get people to respond with honesty, revealing their true natures in all its unsavoriness. Co-screenwriter and producer Anthony Hines describes the process as such, “With Sacha [Baron Cohen], we’ll write an outline, and then a story, and then that becomes a conventional narrative script that in its final draft form is about 100 pages. Then we’ll do a conventional table read with actors, and hear it read out loud to see if the narrative parts do their job as a story, and we hear if it’s hitting the right emotional beats. After revisions and maybe two more table reads, we say, “Ok this works” — and then realize there is a tunnel at the end of the light, because the next time a version of the script will be spoken, it’ll actually involve a dentist or a conspiracy theorist who have no idea they’re in a movie! The fact is, you may end up with 30 percent of what you worked on, and it’ll be rewritten, revised, stuff will be thrown out, and you spend months going in one direction but then the film going another.”
That means while some scenes are scripted straightforwardly as one would with a non-mockumentary picture, it meant “finding ways to manipulate the real world, guessing how people will respond, and shoehorning those guerilla encounters into a coherent narrative.”
The apt analogy for such a process is in assembling a railway track while a train is barreling down on it. But that’s what makes it work. You can’t plan for some of the best moments (or creepier, even), such as when a plastic surgeon admits that he would sleep with a client’s daughter if the father wasn’t around; or Rudy Giuliani behaving around a female journalist. Sometimes, the truth is funnier than fiction.
The sequel to the first Borat (#93 on the WGA List of 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century) picks up 14 years after everyone’s favorite fictional Kazakhstani journalist first made waves. The success of that film, however, has landed Borat Sagdiyev in a gulag because it turned Kazakhstan into a laughing stock.
But Premier Nursultan Nazarbayev (a fictionalized version of the country’s former autocratic leader) releases Borat from his sentence of hard labor for a special mission: He wants Borat to go back to America and win the respect of President Trump so that Nazarbayev will be invited into Trump’s “inner circle of dictators.” How? By presenting to the Vice-President, Mike Pence, one of Kazakhstan’s prized possessions: Jonny the Monkey, the Minister of Culture and the country’s top porn star. Borat requests to be reteamed with his producer, but poor Azamat has suffered a dire fate.
(Note: the script kept changing names to maintain secrecy that “Julio” is in reference to Azamat and was unchanged.)
Before he departs, Borat pays a visit to his house. He discovers that his neighbor has taken over everything, his sons turned against him, and his daughter, Tutar, chained in the backyard. Tutar begs to go with Borat but the father rejects and departs.
But arriving in America, Borat is distressed. His past adventures have made him famous, making it impossible to talk to people without their realizing what is going on. He purchases several disguises in order for him to get around.
Alas! When Borat goes to collect Jonny the Monkey, he discovers that Tutar has smuggled herself in the crate— and eaten Jonny along the way. Horrified, Borat hastily decides to present Tutar as a bride to Pence; though when that also fails, they try to get her to Rudy Giuliani instead. But as Borat spends more time with his daughter, he grows conflicted about his mission; meanwhile, Tutar’s journey in America (and its own misogyny) opens her eyes to the patriarchal restrictions imposed on her, and she begins to push back, forcing Borat to challenge his own notions about women.
Topping the first Borat was never going to be easy. It’s rare to capture lightning in a bottle twice. Above all, times have changed. When Baron Cohen made Borat in the mid-2000s, he set out to expose the underbelly of “racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny” tucked away in most pockets of American society. But the election of Donald Trump in 2016 brought into the open exactly what Baron Cohen shined a light on. The joke isn’t funny anymore when the targets are proud to espouse the beliefs that they’d be ashamed of being caught saying in public. Baron Cohen, who’d retired the character, revived Borat after the 2018 American midterm elections; Borat, he said, was the “perfect tool to get those who follow Trump to reveal what they were ready to tolerate.”
Another major difference between the first and second Borat stories is the emotional narrative between Borat and Tutar. This was not originally the plan, as the sequel would poke fun at society and politics, as it did before. But when Maria Bakalova was cast as Tutar, her brilliance prompted the writers to fashion a character arc alongside the political lampooning. Tutar pushing back on the ridiculous (yet funny) Kazakhstan cultural norms helps to expose the patriarchal limitations still existing in America— they still have debutante balls in the South!— as well as force Borat to actually grow up a little and undergo a strange transition to what might be called feminism. That’s right, Borat actually becomes a little mature.
To aid them, Baron Cohen chose Jena Friedman, Nina Pedrad, and Erica Rivinoja to bring fresh views to the writers room; their input was crucial to mapping Tutar’s journey through American-style misogyny and her own journey of self-discovery.
Thirdly, when the team began working on the sequel, the goal was to get it out before the U.S. 2020 Presidential Elections. But halfway through, COVID-19 shut the world down. When production resumed in July 2020, the writers scrambled to incorporate these real-world events into the plot. It’s partly why the third act feels both unexpected, and the twist reveal at the end falls a little flat; although Borat going up and singing at a protest rally is a hell of a gag. The same applies to scenes with Borat quarantining with two QAnon believers, leading to some funny moments, though none funnier than when Jim and Jerry call Borat’s own ridiculous beliefs as a conspiracy theory:
Fourthly, and perhaps this is the sequel’s real flaw, Baron Cohen being unable to be Borat in public without being recognized. Forcing him to wear different disguises (as he did for his TV series, Who is America?) several times in the story fails to yield the kind of laughs that it might have gotten had scenes featured Borat—and not some different character— reacting to them. That’s not to say he doesn’t draw out some funny (and equally disturbing) moments; it’s just that one misses Borat when he’s not around as much in the story as his actual self.
But the introduction of Tutar makes up for these shortcomings. Her character is just as brilliant and funny as Borat, leading to some truly memorable moments, such as the ‘fertility dance’ at the debutante ball…
At a meeting where Tutar talks about discovering self-pleasure….
And when she reacts to the discovery that in America, women can drive cars, too.
Of course, the standout moment is when Tutar gives herself up to Giuliani in the guise of a reporter while Borat frantically tries to stop it from happening. Getting access to Giuliani required the team to write and create a fake documentary about COVID-19 titled, ‘Keeping America Alive: How Trump Defeated COVID,’ that would allow them to create a cover for shooting the interview. This would lead to a moment where Giuliani was allegedly caught in a compromising position with his hand down his trousers. Giuliani has furiously denied anything creepy and claims he was tucking his shirt in, but then would it really be that surprising if he was really up to something unprofessional?
It is rare to have nine writers working on a project; often, it’s a sign of too many cooks in the kitchen. But for Borat and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, nine writers are necessary to keep up with the hectic changes and come up with new material. For instance, when Baron Cohen had to film scenes in lockdown, Hines would stealthily reach his room by climbing up a ladder to talk and discuss new ideas with the film’s star. All nine writers were deservedly nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (the first film had the same honor) and in fact, won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in recognition of the madcap whirlwind they had to undergo to get it made.
Ultimately, perhaps it’s not Borat that has changed, but the landscape. When the very target of the joke goes from the shadows into the open, it requires a different kind of comedy to attack it. For the most part, the script gets in some good jabs and hearty laughs.
In any case, this is a welcome return for Borat and also a great introduction to Tutar. Will it polarize fans who happen to be the targets of Baron Cohen’s ire? Will it disappoint others who feel it doesn’t live up to the heights of the first Borat? Perhaps. But on its own merits, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm does a solid job. Sometimes, that’s enough. I like!
Notes:
https://www.wgfoundation.org/blog/2021/2/8/fyc-borat-subsequent-moviefilm