This is the first film I have seen by Sacha Cohen. I
wasn’t really interested in the Borat films he has released in the past, but
this one seemed more along the lines of “An American Carol”, so I figured I
would give it a shot. I’m glad I did.
It is also a reeling, fast paced film which explores, in a
comedic fashion, the actual events which take place each day and drive the
insanity of world politics. Sadly; though the film is hysterically funny; much
of it is not too far-fetched. Watching this film, with the Iraq War still fresh
in our minds, helps call attention to the strange and haphazard way in which
our leaders sometimes deal with world politics.
The plot is simple; it concerns a Mid-Eastern dictator from the
fictional country of Wadiyah named Aladeen, played by Sacha Cohen. He has been
threatening the world with a nuclear weapon which may, or my not exist. When he
is summoned to New York for a conference at the United Nations, things don’t go
as planned. His second in command, Tamir, played by Ben Kingsley in a
delightful departure from his more “serious” roles, secretly wants Aladeen
gone, and helps to engineer the plot that finds the great dictator beardless
and without any means of support in the greatest city in the world.
Because of
his opposition to a peace treaty he is marked for death by one side, and also
sought by his own military. In addition he has all of the many enemies he has
created during his years in power in Wadiyah to worry about.
Adopting the name Efawadh, he finds himself in Brooklyn with
a pretty young American woman who has no idea who he is. She owns an organic
food store and is very independent, which is something Aladeen is not used to.
But there is something about her that makes him want to understand more about
life.
Soon he discovers that the neighborhood he is living in
is inhabited by all of the people he has formerly ordered executed. It seems
that his trusted guards were not carrying out those executions, which were not
justified in the first place, and sending the condemned to settle in Brooklyn.
He begins to recognize them, as they do him. Clearly, the great Aladeen is in a
bind.
When the time for the vote comes at the United Nations, a
“double” has been prepared to take his place and sign an historic peace treaty
with the world. If Aladeen can get into the General Assembly and denounce the
impostor, then he will be the feared dictator again, with the whole world
groveling at his feet. Finding the impostor and taking his place is no challenge,
and he mounts the podium to nullify the treaty.
As he begins to declare all that is wrong with democracy,
the girl from Brooklyn manages to arrive at the General Assembly. Upon seeing
her, he begins to glorify all of the things that he finds so imperfect about
democracy, realizing that only the imperfections of true freedom could have created a woman as wonderful
as the one he has found.
Directed by Larry Charles, and written by Sacha Cohen and
Alec Berg, this film is a wonderful satire about the fools and clowns who run our
planet. It’s also about the humanity that they may not realize exists in us
all; perhaps even them-selves. This is a very funny, and true to life film.
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