Bruno

In 2006 the movie Borat was lauded as comedic brilliance for its ability to reduce the audience to tears of laughter while shoving American ignorance right in its face. Rising above the controversy surrounding the film, its creator and star was lauded as a genius whose star has not diminished in the last few years. Bestowing the title of a comic genius on Sasha Baron Cohen set the anticipation for his next work impossibly high while making the wait for the follow-up interminably long. Cohen’s long-awaited follow-up, Bruno, has finally been released and has indeed raised the “mockumentary” to dizzying heights of hilarity. The laughs though may have come at the cost of his subversive message that had many calling the man a genius being lost in the push for shocking humor.

There is no doubt that the depictions throughout the film are absolutely outrageous and hysterical in spite of any moral indignation. There are no lengths Cohen will not go to humiliate himself for the uncomfortable enjoyment of his audience. It is shocking in fact that the film did not receive a NC-17 rating for its graphic depictions of sexuality. There are images that, for better or worse, will become etched in your mind. With such a commitment to your psyche, questions will come as to what exactly those images will be remembered for.

The roar of the audience and tears down your face will no doubt come to mind, but what of social commentary. Cohen is attempting to expose hidden homophobic attitudes to the rest of the world through is flamboyantly homosexual character Bruno. Unfortunately, his over-the-top antics do not expose all that many hidden homophobic attitudes; it is not a shock that a hunter would take offense to a naked Bruno trying to crawl into his tent at night with nothing more than a handful of condoms. Nor is it shocking that an arena full of ultimate fighting fans would be offended by homosexual conduct; the purpose of the stunt called into question because it is equally doubtful whether their indignation would cause any of them to feel any sense of shame.

The real shame may lie with Cohen solely. By going for laughs at the expense of attitudes, he has run the risk of having his own views called into question. Does he humiliate himself as the flamboyant Bruno because he wants to exploit society’s evils or because those evils are ingrained as a part of him? Are the exploits funny because those evils reside in all of us? The only hidden evils he exposes in the film comes at the expense of some horrific stage parents who should have children protective services investigate each and every one of them. Otherwise the humiliation alone falls on Cohen whose antics implicate us all.