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Borat

Date: Apr 18 2007

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Borat is the invention of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and was first seen on the UK’s Da Ali G Show. The fictional reporter from Kazakhstan can get an interview with just about anyone, and has elicited some hilarious footage involving powerful politicians as well as regular citizens.

Recently, Cohen made a feature film. It’s a fake documentary that chronicles Borat’s visit to the US. A few scenes are getting the comedian into trouble with some of the people he put in the movie, and the government of Kazakhstan has banned the film. But most movie-goers agree that this flick is hilarious.

Listen to Kevin and Mason laugh about Borat.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kevin

Mason

Kevin: Borat!

Mason: Funniest movie of the year.

Kevin: I was literally sitting in the cinema thinking I had not laughed that hard in a very long time.

Mason: Wow. I, I don’t laugh out loud in movies all that often. But the entire theater was, was just losing it.

Kevin: It was great. It was great.

Mason: Uh, what’s, to, like, to you, what’s the favorite, what’s your favorite part about what he’s doing?

Kevin: Well, for one, I like that he picks on everyone. I mean, I think he, he shows some people’s true colors, which in one respect is funny ‘cause you can’t believe someone would say that on camera...

Mason: Yeah, yeah. The people that aren’t the act…

Kevin: .... Even thinking it’s a Kazakhstani reporter, right?

Mason: There’s really only, like, two actors and the stuff that he gets normal people to say…

Kevin: It’s amazing.

Mason: Yeah.

Kevin: Um, and also the scene in the hotel room when they’re wrestling is, was really out of control.

Mason: Were you…

Kevin: Really…

Mason: That, uh, uncomfortable…

Kevin: Yes.

Mason: A little awkward for me. I was, uh…. But then, you know, when they go running into the middle of that conference hall, and you’re just, like, “Did those people know?” To me, that was the amazing part of it. It’s, like, I don’t know what was real and not.

Kevin: Yeah.

Mason: All… it all looks real. So much of it looks real, but then the other things, you’re thinking, there’s no way they could’ve made that happen in cinema without more people being in on the joke.

Kevin: I would agree.

Mason: But no one will ever know because he’ll never talk. And there’s the brilliance.

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Discussion

Kevin and Mason both laughed hard while they were watching Borat.

Kevin loves that Borat will try to talk to anyone, and that he usually can get people to open up about how they really feel about certain subjects.

Mason says he felt uncomfortable during one scene. They didn’t want to reveal too much about the movie, but they were talking about a scene that involved some shocking nudity.

Kevin and Mason agree that the reason the Borat stunts work is because you can’t tell who’s in on the joke and who’s not.

Are you a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy?

Have you seen Borat?

Comments

Colibri

Russian Federation

Just saw the movie yesterday. It was hilarious. It is so dumb, but the sense is this movie is much much deeper than just in direct jokes. This film has nothing about Kazakhstan (people do not look like Kazakh at all nothing similar, it didn't take place there, and when they try to speak native "Kazakh language, they actually do it in several different lang such as Armenian and Polish, and some people (remember guys who picked him up while hitchhiking) even don't know where is Kazakhstan and what is Soviet Union. Yes, some people especially from Kazakhstan can be offended (and it is understandable, this movie was banned in Kazakhstan), but the sense of it much deeper, it could be from any country about America.

ridz

Pakistan

l ve n0t seen thz movie yet but i can say tht if ppl r gettin happy with da act ov borat thn he must b appreciatin fo tht

kukuka

Ukraine

the movie is great …my favourite one

Josh K

Guatemala

ffffffffff

silver girl 4 u

Romania

maybe it`s funny…but the first part was filmed in Romania and the ppl who live in that village thought that they `ll appear in a documentary about their bad financial position and all was a lie