Sacha Baron Cohen

I admire Sacha Baron Cohen so wholeheartedly. The man embodies such comedic genius that's just undeniable, even if his work doesn't appeal to you or you if find it relatively distasteful - in fact I find it funny that so many do. Firstly I want to say that Bruno is very different from Borat and I don't think people should compare or place judgement on one while considering the other - they're two seperate projects, two seperate identities and basically polar opposite representations. To be perfectly honest, and I'm probably not the most constructive of movie critics, Bruno had me laughing myself silly. I loved it. Secondly, comes the real root of my blog. Sacha Baron Cohen has such self-confidence and appears to be so devoid of insecurities when depicting his characters and I look up to that. People may judge me when I declare that I look up to a man who wears a mankini in one movie and communicates with a genuine terrorist in the next; Society might think me sad and suggest I find a role model of more morality, but he's an actor for goodness sake and it's his entire attitude toward comedy that I appreciate. It's his individualistic approach to what he does and I guess his controversial delivery. Both Bruno and Borat have that shock value, and even with their "stereotyping" of certain foreigners, Sacha challenges those stereotypes as well and, to an extent, breaks down many cultural barriers. I really love how his identity is unknown to the people he interacts with. It allows the audience to see the wider community's interpretation and first impressions of him when they don't have that prior or pre-conceived knowledge to rely on in their initial judgement. It's so real that way. But, I guess differing societies don't always see it the way I do, what with Sacha Baron Cohen being banned from Kazakhstan after Borat, and the release of Bruno having been banned in Ukraine. I just think people need to perhaps loosen the barriers, deflate their judgement, embrace his comedy, and realise that it's simply that, comedy.