“The most famous Austrian since Hitler”
When Brüno was released in Australian cinemas it was received less than enthusiastically by a member of the Melbourne queer press.
The columnist wasn’t pleased with Sacha Baron Cohen’s turn as an Austrian gay fashionista who leaves the “superficial” world of Euro-fashion to become a superstar in LA.
The critic suggested that although Brüno was made with a satirical purpose it wasn’t acceptable for Cohen to create such a caricature of a gay male.
Even if it’s easy to understand why some gay men are sick of “sissies” on screen, it’s hard to believe Cohen would’ve been able to inspire the same amount of shock and awe if he was playing a Log Cabin Republican in a suit and tie.
The point is that the animosity expressed towards the camper than a million rows of tents nineteen-year-old is just a more overt version of the negativity that’s directed towards gays all the time.
After being fired from his role as a host on an “over-influential” show about current trends and failing to become a movie star in LA, Bruno decides that to become famous he’ll need to be straight like Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey and John Travolta.
In his effort to achieve heterosexuality Bruno visits a couple of ex-gay preachers, one of whom Bruno accuses of trying to hit on him while the other tells Bruno that although women are really annoying with all their whining men need them (sounds like a straight man).
Bruno also participates in some other heterosexual-inducing activities such as a stint in the military and a swingers’ party where the sexual liberty doesn’t extend to non-heterosexual sodomy.
One of the most gloriously awkward moments in Brüno comes when the eponymous star sits around a campfire at night with some laconic males in camouflage gear.
The silence when Bruno says that the stars in the sky make him think about all the hot men in the world goes on forever.
While there’s no doubt parts of Brüno are staged (hopefully the part about the creepy stage parents and the mother who agrees to put her baby daughter on a diet), it’s difficult to know how Cohen got a former Palestinian minister and an ex-Mossad chief together to discuss the merits of hummus and giving the pyramids back to the Israelis.
“Don’t shoot each other, kill a Christian” he sings in the hope of achieving world peace and thus celebrity.
The denouement featuring “Straight Dave” is hilarious and rather frightening.
Although Cohen’s brand of humour mightn’t stand up to repeated viewings Brüno was mostly very funny on the first and second viewing.
Brüno is out now on DVD
I’m sure Sacha Baron Cohen will be really saddened to hear that Australia’s gay press hasn’t warmed to the movie, since he’s normally so careful to make sure that no one is offended by his comedy.
Without the offence, I’m not sure what Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy would be. It’s the comedy of offence and shock.
Sometimes it work and sometimes it doesn’t, and it has a limited life.
I wonder if comedy that doesn’t cause offence to somebody is worthy comedy.
I think there’s a myth that a lot of the punch lines in the movie are ‘exposing people’s homophobia’. I’m a gay male who felt nothing but sympathy for the innocent victims of his pranks, and I think that’s how the movie was designed. All of the punch lines are when Bruno does something stupid. None of them are when people do rude things towards Bruno for being gay.
The movie is homophobic, and it didn’t really bother me because a lot of the press is homophobic… but that line about it ‘exposing homophobia’ was absolute crap.
It’s patchy compared to Borat, and you can tell that the narrative is a reach. I still laughed though, and Straight Dave was the cherry.
I wonder what’s next for Cohen. He’s burnt his entire repertoire of characters now.
No – what about the Log Cabin Republican in a suit? Bring it on.
What special status do gay males have, that makes it unacceptable to satirise them?
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Furthermore, who really cares?
Yeah. Maybe Charles Dickens shouldn’t have written about a lesbian relationship in Little Dorrit, either?
They’re neat, slim, dress stylishly and love show music.
What’s to satirise?
Mmm, so there was sympathy for the audience who were yelling out “Straight Pride” in response to “Straight Dave”?
What about the character of Lutz? He was a wonderful straight gay man to Cohen’s over-the-top character. The guy who played him was great. At any rate, there’s nothing wrong with camp.
I suspect you’re right, Craig. That’s the problem with depending on characters for your comedy. I suspect the chaps from Little Britain are the same boat.
It would be interesting to see people’s reactions to the Log Cabin Republican. It would be more subtle but would contain lots of “some of my best friends are gay, but……”
I am not sure anyone above satire. It all depends on context and who’s doing the satirising.
“They’re neat, slim, dress stylishly and love show music.
What’s to satirise?”
Aha, Mr. Bond… it appears you have walked precisely into the trap.
I found Borat rather patchy, and at times, indeed, frequently, not that funny. Maybe its the same problem with Bruno? I wouldn’t go to a cinema to see it, but will get it out on DVD eventually.
I thought it was funny, and I’m gay (just don’t tell Mrs Kamahl).
Humour is strange.
Based on an actual event – and I can’t remember the name of the movie – was a scene where a jewish prisoner was recaptured and marched back into a concentration camp. What followed was a comedic scene where the prisoner walked past the guards who were howling with laughter. the prisoner had been beaten almost to a pulp and could barely walk, but he was wearing a sandwich board message that said:
“Hi honey, I’m home. Sorry I’m late!”
The director really hammed it up and made it look funny. And the funnier it looked, obviously the more sinister the scene was. You could see that the guards did have a real sense of humour, and there was wit in how they did their “prank”.
I have never thought wit or humour excuses everything. I often find Cohen’s humour mean and bullying; his targets undeserving of the treatment.
I was tentative about getting Bruno out, but I enjoyed it more than Borat (I think I might be in a minority there).
Reb, it just might be a case of different tastes.
I just can’t see it in the same light as the Red Faces Black Faces skit thing. Context is everything.
Wow, that’s really black humour, Brendon. Sounds really effective.
I find with Cohen that sometimes one does feel sympathy for his targets. It depends on the target. I felt sorry for some of the Borat “victims” because they were guilty of being friendly and letting him into their home.
I thought Borat was extremely dark and revealed a sense of a modern day America intent on maintaining the outward notion of civility but emptied of any true ethics or kindness. There is a great tradition in American lit that punches holes in the American dream, albeit in finer ways, than does Borat but you could say it attempts just that kind of analysis. To that end, I did not feel sorry for Borat’s targets. I also felt that much of the anti-semitism Cohen exposed not only came from the Americans targeted, but also could be teased from the audiences who could uncritically laugh at the anti semitic Borat and not blink while doing it. I was very uncomfortable with the movie, and when I did laugh, felt complicit in some way – because of this. Which is why it worked for me. It gave me cause to question the audience who was laughing so hysterically at my viewing. There seemed to be coded messages within the film too. For instance, I have been told he was speaking Hebrew when he was supposed to be speaking Kazakh. If this is the case, then this hidden layer of satire further split the audience in a way that only those who understand Hebrew, most likely Jewish people, would get. There was a knowing audience and an unknowing one. Borat’s target was also the people who came to laugh at the Americans IMO.
Bruno did not have the same impact for me at all and I remain unconvinced it did anything for exposing homophobia.
Katz, your response at no. 8 gave me a good chuckle.
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Incidentally, the first gay man I ever knew, when I was a naive 19 year old in the 1970′s, was a carpenter employed by my father. He was solidly built, (carpentry is hard, heavy work that builds muscles), and not a particularly stylish dresser, so he didn’t fit the stereotype. However, his boyfriend, when I met him, was the slim, stylishly dressed one. Then again, they both had a thing for show music, although at the time I didn’t realise the significance.
“To that end, I did not feel sorry for Borat’s targets. I also felt that much of the anti-semitism Cohen exposed not only came from the Americans targeted, but also could be teased from the audiences who could uncritically laugh at the anti semitic Borat and not blink while doing it.”
Good point. Is it possibly the case that audiences felt that Borat was somebody they could relate to and thus gave them permission to reveal prejudices. In that way they weren’t being challenged but felt supported. Whereas Bruno might be harder for some to relate to.
Cohen seems a little touchy about the homophobia subject in the commentary. At least he raises it a few times. In the end he thinks that the line “he’s gay, okay” (something like that) at the end of the song is a good summation of what the film’s about. All the rest of the commentary suggests he and Larry David think it’s more about celebrity culture.
In Israel he walked down the street in a shirts and socks with no shirt version of the Hasidic dress in a highly orthordox area in Israel (“Middle Earth”) and he was chased. He said he responded by saying “I am a Jew” in Hebrew and that only served to antagonise even further.
What about the scene at the talk when Bruno says he wants to find Mr Right? The audience turn on him just at the point. Apparently they also tried that scene with an all white audience and somebody said that if Bruno asked him out on a date he’d respond with a Smith & Wesson.
I thought that was a rather good point there by lomlate @3.
Bruno, and Borat, is as much a pisstake of the putative worlds out of which they came as they are of day to day Americans dealing with an incredible colourful yet ill mannered eruption into their worlds. Sacha’s really cunning like that.
Having just returned from motoring through the US South West while being genially provocative (“So does ‘cowpokes’ mean what I think it means?”), I can say that Yanks still remain some of the most incredibly polite and hospitable people on the planet.
Or to put it another way, I can’t see Baron Cohen so successfully and safely pulling his extreme “B” & “B” routines off on the road in any other country.