Borat, the film starring an obnoxious spoof Kazakh reporter, has put the central Asian nation in the world spotlight, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Britain grudgingly admitted on Saturday.
Erlan Idrissov said his country owes the comedy film — which portrays Kazakhstan as a nation full of backward, quasi-medieval racists who drink horse urine — some credit for making millions of people aware that the ex-Soviet state even exists.
He said the country survived the hardship of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s regime and will overcome any damage done by the bumbling Borat.
”Let me admit it: we Kazakhs owe Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat’s creator, a debt,” the ambassador wrote in the Times newspaper. ”Not only is he capable of making many of us — myself included — laugh out loud, but his spoof documentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has resulted in the kind of media attention of which previously I could only dream.
”In a sense he has placed Kazakhstan on the map,” he said.
Borat stars Baron Cohen — the British comic who rose to fame as spoof rapper Ali G — in the title role as a blundering journalist who causes mayhem across the United States.
Kazakh officials have generally not taken kindly to the fake documentary.
”It is true that many Kazakhs are offended by Borat,” Idrissov wrote. ”Some scenes really made me laugh. It is also incredible how Americans could have been duped by Borat on such a massive scale.
”Yet other scenes leave an unpleasant aftertaste, especially those that provide an outlet for Borat’s anti-Semitism and extreme chauvinism.”
In his article, the ambassador said that Borat’s claims to be the seventh-most-famous man in Kazakhstan were understated. ”The reality is that the only thing many millions of people in the West know about Kazakhstan — or think they know — comes from Borat.
”Borat could have been created only by someone who knows nothing about Kazakhstan and has never been there. I doubt whether Borat could survive if his creator knew the reality of modern Kazakhstan, and perhaps this is why Mr Baron Cohen shows no enthusiasm to visit.”
Idrissov said nearly two million Kazakhs were killed under Stalin’s regime, but the nation does not want to be portrayed as a country of victims. He wrote: ”Having survived Stalin, we will certainly survive Borat. But please understand why our laughter is selective.” — Sapa-AFP