Documentary Feature Film

What Ho Proles!

Fiction leaves me colder than last week’s smoked salmon. ‘Give me facts!’ is a simple rule which accounts for many of my enjoyments: I prefer to read non-fiction, carry newspapers with me wherever I go, and only ever sit down to watch the TV when it’s tuned to the news or documentaries. All of which explains why I took up My Man’s suggestion that I go and see a new documentary feature that has just hit the cinemas.

The film’s full title is ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’, which is a bit of a mouthful but I prefer it when filmmakers go to this sort of length to tell you what you’re about see. The last time I went to the cinema, I saw Titanic, which would have been better if it had been titled ‘Ruddy big ship full of pretty boys and chubby girls and far too few stiff upper lips’. Not my sort of thing at all and I was the only chap in the audience who cheered when the damn thing hit the old ice.

There was no cheer last night, however, for what I saw was an intriguing mix of social commentary mixed with elements of cinéma vérité, and to be quite honest, it opened my eyes to much that I didn’t know about our friends in the old Soviet bloc. The lead character was a likeable sort, not completely at home in front of the camera, but with an honesty that was refreshing. We need more chaps like that on our screens, fellows of the Jeremy Paxman school of journalism who say exactly what they see.

I’m just glad that I had the cinema to myself – another perk of owning the land the place is built upon – which meant that I did away with the usual proleish muttering that can ruin a film. As it is, I’d recommend it to all, so long as you can clear the theatre. I heard a dreadful report of a local village where the whole documentary was ruined by the screams of laughter coming from the audience. Terrible.

Until anon.