REVIEW BY NATALIE WARWICK
I truly feel that audiences keep coming back to Sacha Baron Cohen movies on the back of the 2006 hit Borat - about a character spawned from the grossly popular Ali-G show in the early
2000's - Borat was new, real and shocking. A one off that captured the imaginations of a generation. Sure it was crude but beneath the surface was a cold truth which you couldn't help but admire light being shed on it. Cohen's second movie Bruno was more on the crude side and although much more shocking than Borat - it lacked the depth and here we come to The Dictator. I feel with this Cohen has bought back some of the depth of Borat, but not much. Overall I was disappointed - I keep coming back to see a movement rather than a slapstick movie, triggered by crude jokes, a moronic main character and the complimentary penis exposure.
The dictator follows the fate of Haffaz Aladeen of Wadiya as the last dictator. Cohen Satirises the awful happenings of terrorism and tyranny and torture in his usually style, using true references in the media and obviously the obligatory stereotypical American ignorance.
My favourite part was the scenes of Aladeen and his head nuclear scientist with the American couple in the helicopter ride. What I found humorous I guess was the reaction of the lay man and was perhaps the key point in Borat. How one persons unfamiliar or unsocial behaviour can trigger the ignorance in another.
I feel that without the weight of Cohen's earlier satire behind it The Dictator would leave a bad taste in your mouth. Especially if you don't understand what Cohen's message is. On its own it possibly doesn't give his message of ignorance and social stereotyping as well as it could have. On the other hand perhaps Cohen's brand of social satire is over and The Dictator is a few years too late and unfortunately out of date.
Year: 2012
Classification: 15
Length: 83 mins
More info at IMDb
I truly feel that audiences keep coming back to Sacha Baron Cohen movies on the back of the 2006 hit Borat - about a character spawned from the grossly popular Ali-G show in the early2000's - Borat was new, real and shocking. A one off that captured the imaginations of a generation. Sure it was crude but beneath the surface was a cold truth which you couldn't help but admire light being shed on it. Cohen's second movie Bruno was more on the crude side and although much more shocking than Borat - it lacked the depth and here we come to The Dictator. I feel with this Cohen has bought back some of the depth of Borat, but not much. Overall I was disappointed - I keep coming back to see a movement rather than a slapstick movie, triggered by crude jokes, a moronic main character and the complimentary penis exposure.
The dictator follows the fate of Haffaz Aladeen of Wadiya as the last dictator. Cohen Satirises the awful happenings of terrorism and tyranny and torture in his usually style, using true references in the media and obviously the obligatory stereotypical American ignorance.
My favourite part was the scenes of Aladeen and his head nuclear scientist with the American couple in the helicopter ride. What I found humorous I guess was the reaction of the lay man and was perhaps the key point in Borat. How one persons unfamiliar or unsocial behaviour can trigger the ignorance in another.
I feel that without the weight of Cohen's earlier satire behind it The Dictator would leave a bad taste in your mouth. Especially if you don't understand what Cohen's message is. On its own it possibly doesn't give his message of ignorance and social stereotyping as well as it could have. On the other hand perhaps Cohen's brand of social satire is over and The Dictator is a few years too late and unfortunately out of date.
Year: 2012
Classification: 15
Length: 83 mins
More info at IMDb
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