Based on his lengthy career in comedy, the concept of pushing the envelope has come to be synonymous with Sacha Baron Cohen, and has made him both an oddly beloved figure, and someone reviled by those who are not attuned to his peculiar sense of humour. From his breakout in the early 2000s, he established himself as someone always willing to go too far for the sake of a joke – and while this has caused considerable controversy (and found the comedian going to court quite a few times), it does serve a vital purpose, which comes through exceptionally in some of his more successful attempts at employing his distinct style to the wider world, making them the victims of his strange but fascinating curiosities. You can imagine the surprise when we were recently told that his most popular character by a country mile – the dimwitted Kazakh journalist Borat Sagyidiev – was going to be the subject of an entirely new film, over a decade since Baron Cohen’s wildfire cinematic breakthrough with the character. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan had a lot to prove – the first film is a masterpiece of satire, and its renegade charm was akin to catching lightning in a bottle. We’ve seen many artists try and replicate their early success with less-than-ideal results, which often tarnishes both their reputation, and feelings towards the original. This was not the case at all here, and while it would be foolish to say Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is better than its predecessor, it’s not out of the realm of plausibility that this one matches the other beat-for-beat, standing alongside it with the exact same absurd charm and forthright edge that captivated audiences fourteen years ago, and has kept us enthralled ever since – and this time, there is a heartfelt desire on the actor’s part to use this character as a means to plea for logic and reasoning, in the hopes that, through his outrageous antics, he might just change a few hearts and minds along the way.

If Borat was a coronation of an exciting new comedic voice to the wider global population, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a firm reminder of his brilliance. Ultimately, there is a lesson to be learned with films such as this – when you give someone like Sacha Baron Cohen a camera crew and access to a few costumes, chaos will erupt. An enigma of the industry, Baron Cohen is a singular comedic voice, someone who established himself as having a vivid, distinct approach to his comedy, which comes across in a way that can only be described as entirely divisive, since he is vehemently against the concept of creating comedy to entertain everyone. His films are accessible but uncomfortable, and while there have been many attempts to derive entertainment value from awkward situations (consider the rise of “cringe comedy” as a viable form of humour in recent years), none of them seem to have the radicalized approach that Baron Cohen makes use of when he brings out that distinctive grey suit, and the plethora of now-iconic quips associated with the character. We’re placed in a position of extreme discomfort, and presented with a dizzying array of images that would be horrifying if they weren’t shown in a way that derives so much value from these situations. Comedy is subjective, but we can all agree that the manner in which Baron Cohen pushes boundaries with a dedication that has rarely ever been glimpsed is incredibly effective – and if there’s any doubt that he is succeeding in his endeavour to expose the more insidious actions that punctuate modern life, consider the frequent attempts at litigating his work from the “victims” of his comedy, who tend to not take kindly to being exposed as the frauds, hypocrites or genuinely malicious individuals that they’re portrayed as on screen. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is an incredible return to form in this regard, and finds Baron Cohen once again in his element, trotting gleefully through conservative hypocrisy in the hopes of revealing the truth through his daring approach to comedy.

Contrary to those who point to its widespread existence, satire isn’t the easiest form of comedy to get right, since it takes a very particular approach to be successful. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm proves why Baron Cohen is amongst his generation’s finest satirists for a number of reasons. One of the fundamental qualities that come into play here is the fact that in series and franchises with multiple entries, one needs to acknowledge that what made something popular originally may not immediately translate in later versions, but that some degree of recognizability is also extremely necessary to ensure that audiences are as entertained with new versions of the story as they were originally. Straddling the line between originality and familiarity is imperative, and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm achieves this exceptionally well. Baron Cohen understands that people adore this character, but to prevent allegations of being a one-trick pony, he does some very creative work in developing the story to be reflective of all the aspects the public adores, but also to make use of a new set of ideas. Part of this comes through in the introduction of Borat’s daughter (who is played brilliantly by Maria Bakalova, who is absolutely one of the breakout stars of the year), which gives the film that chance to explore certain concepts beyond the basic premise, which is remarkably similar to what Baron Cohen and his cohorts did in 2006, albeit only superficially so. This ultimately lends itself to the conversation about how Borat Subsequent Moviefilm compares to the original, and the ultimate conclusion that it is a worthy follow-up to an enormous cultural sensation, similar enough to remind us why we collectively fell in love with this character, but different enough to give us more reason to be enthralled by the carefully-curated chaos that Baron Cohen puts on screen – and frankly,  no one else is capable of making artistic anarchy look as sophisticated as it did here.

Perhaps the most significant difference between the two films is that they essentially exist in two completely different eras, despite occurring less than a generation apart. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was made in a very different kind of America, and while the original was more focused on looking at America from a grassroots level, focusing on ordinary individuals who became unsuspecting victims to the deranged foreign reporter, this film is far more politically-charged. In the interim, Baron Cohen did become more militant in his views towards freedom of speech and the intersections between political actions and social issues, and how they tend to influence the lives of everyone on a worldwide scale (mainly represented through his incredible but underseen mockumentary series Who Is America?, which essentially asked that exact question in unexpected ways), and this same approach is present in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which has the same offbeat charm, only presenting it through a lens of scathing commentary that actively seeks to expose the enormous flaws in the political system. This is precisely what makes this such a controversial piece, since it is divisive by design – and while Baron Cohen doesn’t have exclusivity in this kind of boundary-pushing comedy, he is one of its more staunch supporters. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, Baron Cohen isn’t attempting to divide audiences – he understands that he absolutely will, since its entirely unavoidable – but rather, he’s trying to show the truth, and while those supportive of the people he is lampooning will see his comedy as insulting and inappropriate, the intention isn’t to promote anything other than logic and reason, which is sadly far too elusive in the modern world. Through channelling these themes through the lens of a bombastic, absurd character and his off-the-wall antics, Baron Cohen manages to comment on these issues with precision and unprecedented dedication, finding the perfect balance between hysterical comedy, and deeply unsettling social commentary.

Comedy is a difficult genre to get quite right, so to be able to extract such hilarity from mainly real situations is an art form onto itself. The appeal of the Borat character (as well as many of the other characters that Baron Cohen has portrayed in his career) is that they play into our inherent fascination with human behaviour. We derive a certain perverse pleasure in seeing people, particularly those who we don’t agree with because of their values or actions, becoming the victim of someone who is insistent in his attempts to eviscerate them through the guise of one of comedy’s most lovable idiots. Beneath this awkward but incredibly successful form of comedy is a kind of social commentary that makes it far more intelligent than it appears at first – ultimately, the Borat character was created to be a figure that extracts true human behaviour from unsuspecting people, so while the character has his idiosyncrasies, what makes Baron Cohen’s comedy effective is that it is a reactionary form of humour – the situations he places himself in have comedic value because of how he manages to expose people and force them to show who they really are through putting them in positions where their external veneer is impossible to uphold. Arguably, this can be seen as exploitative to more innocent people, who aren’t aware that they’re becoming the folly of a comedian’s artistic experiments (although these tend to be the people who benefit the most from this film’s success), but all allegations of cruelty disappear when we’re dealing with more controversial public figures, who Baron Cohen shows nothing but disdain for – politically, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm stretches the boundaries of decency, to the point where it actively attempts to dismantle false notions of certain political figures who are held up as arbiters of decency, which Borat and his artistic goons prove to be nothing but inauthentic. The public figures that Borat Subsequent Moviefilm lampoons (which is a surprise for the most part, so I won’t mention them here) are putting on an act, much in the same way as Baron Cohen himself, with the only difference being that the latter is honest about it and we know it’s not genuine – it becomes very different when we’re dealing with those who made a career convincing the public that they’re good people, when in actuality, they are the complete opposite.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a unique experience in the form of something very familiar, which is where most of its ingenuity lies. Inarguably, it is a very different kind of film to the first time this character was let loose in cinemas, especially since this one lacks the raw, unadulterated chaos that made the first one such a resounding success. The shock value and unprecedented disorganization weren’t quite as notable here, instead being replaced with a more subdued tone that still has the exact same biting wit and refusal to be anything other than pure anarchy, but is slightly more ordered in its proceedings. There are still moments here that will elicit outright gasps from the viewer – Baron Cohen truly knows how to straddle the line between challenging conventions and resorting to excess, turning Borat Subsequent Moviefilm into yet another chance for him to express his devil-may-care approach to comedy that is entirely inimitable. It’s a strange, surreal journey into the heartland of America, taken from the perspective of a wildly intelligent outsider playing an even more off-the-wall foreigner with a distinct way of existing. The film is outrageous and wild to the point of nearly falling apart, but at the moment where it seems as if it is heading that way, it swerves in an entirely different direction, taking on an emotional resonance that feels so profound, especially considering the madness occurring around the film. Ultimately, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is both a haunting glimpse into the state of the world, and a balm for it – a chance to forget the challenges occurring around us, and instead momentarily abandon our inhibitions and embrace the strange comedic odyssey presented to us here. It’s not an essential film, but it’s one that carries a lot of value, and while it may also not have been all that necessary, it’s terrific that it exists, and that this character, who we thought had been retired (both formally and in terms of how useful he is in the contemporary world) is still as relevant as ever.