I saw Bruno this weekend, and while I thought it was pretty damn funny, it wasn’t “pee your pants/can’t stop crying” funny. It was totally offensive on many different levels, but you kind of expected that. The thing that impressed my husband and me the most was the fact that Cohen never broke character and was willing to go as graphically, obnoxiously far as he did in so many instances with so many hapless victims. Some of the people’s reactions were really priceless, especially a focus group hired to screen the faux pilot for Bruno’s American talkshow. I won’t give away too much of the non-plot, but there were moments when you were cringing and hoping that Cohen would escape with his faux sneer intact.
One of those moments wasn’t when Bruno was interviewing a supposedly bonafide terrorist. The guy just told him to get out when he insulted Osama, and the Osama crack had me laughing pretty hard. Cohen said that he wanted to get kidnapped to be famous and that “your king Osama” looks like “a dirty wizard or a homeless Santa.” It was surely a dangerous situation, but it didn’t seem as scary as the other segments because the guys weren’t having any of Bruno’s bullsh*t and kicked him out right away.
In an appearance on The Late Show last week, Cohen (not in character) told Letterman that he went to great pains to find a real terrorist, and that he used CIA contacts to find a member of the “Al-Axa Martyrs Brigade, the number one suicide bombers out there.” Cohen said he had to agrees to meet the guy at an undisclosed location. The situation was so dangerous, he claimed, that it took him a long time to find security and he had to settle for one guy who used to work with Enrique Iglesias to serve as his bodyguard.
The “terrorist” interviewed for the film is predictably appalled, and said he thought he was being interviewed to speak about the cause of Palestinian rights. He’s not a terrorist and is an active legitimate political leader. He was involved in terrorist-type pro-Palestinian activities at one point, but that ended five years ago and he’s since cooperated with the Israeli authorities and leads a peaceful life. The guy says he didn’t have a bodyguard with him, and he didn’t have guns. They met at a restaurant for the interview, not an undisclosed location. He’s considering suing and said that he was mislead into believing the film was being made about Palestine.
Aita is a representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party to the West Bank town of Beit Sahor, which is a satellite of Bethlehem. Aita also is a board member of the Holy Land Trust, a nongovernmental organization promoting Palestinian rights and commitment to nonviolence.
Aita served in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from 2000 until 2003, after which he did a two year stint in Israeli prison on accusations he was involved in shootings against Israeli soldiers operating in Bethlehem. Still, according to Israeli security sources speaking to WND, Aita, while a member of the Brigades, once worked with Jewish state officials to return two Israeli reserve soldiers who had gotten lost in Bethlehem.
Baron Cohen, meanwhile, has pumped up his sit down with a “real terrorist” to promote his new movie.
In an interview with Letterman last week, Baron Cohen described meeting Aita and Aita’s “bodyguard” at an undisclosed location in the West Bank.
“I thought I needed security,” Baron Cohen told Letterman. “It was in the West Bank. The guy picks this secret location. … The terrorist comes in with his bodyguard.”
“I was pretty sure that my terrorist either did or did not have a gun on him,” said Baron Cohen.
Aita, however, says the interview took place at a private section of a popular restaurant called Everest in the town of Beit Jala, which is in a section in the West Bank under Israeli control.
Aita said he does not carry any weapons and Palestinians are not allowed to bring weapons into Beit Jala. Indeed, during multiple in-person interviews with WND, Aita was unarmed.
Aita also said he does not have a bodyguard. The second individual who showed up with him for the interview with Baron Cohen, he said, was Sammy Awad, the American manager of the Holy Land Trust.
Asked if he thought anything was unusual about the way Baron Cohen acted or dressed during the interview, Aita replied, “No. He behaved very normally.”
“There was nothing special,” continued Aita. “He said he is a German actor making documentaries watched by young people. … He wanted to make a story to mobilize the young people to help us (Palestinians). … I didn’t have any impression he would use my interview in a bad way.”
Aita slammed Baron Cohen as a “big liar.”
He said he is in the process of securing a lawyer to pursue possible legal action, claiming the film “made me big damages.”
Baron Cohen’s publicist, Matthew Labov, told WND the comedian has no comment on the report. A spokesperson for Universal Pictures, which released the movie, said the studio also had no comment.
[From WND via Huffington Post]
So far, the film has only been sued once – by a woman who suffered an injury at a bingo game where Bruno shocked all the old people with his foul language and antics, making the poor bingo lady go in the back and cry hysterically, hitting her head on a concrete slab. She said she suffered from a bleeding brain and ended up in a wheelchair. That scene was cut from the film.
Borat, the 2006 film featuring Cohen as a Kazakh reporter, was sued seven times by various unwilling participants.
There were plenty of people in Bruno, especially in one of the seminal final scenes which featured women covering their mouths in disbelief and guys throwing chairs and drinks. Expect to see a handful of more lawsuits now that the film is out. I would guess that the agreement they have the guests sign is pretty solid, although there has got to be a judge somewhere who is willing to challenge it.
Cohen is shown outside The Late Show on Thursday, where he read the Top Ten List as Bruno
Yeah, it’s a bit suspicious that a a real terrorist would agree to be filmed unmasked.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
Perhaps it’s Cohen’s own prejudices which are coming through with comments like “my terrorist”? Strictly, the man was a terrorist at one stage, but is not now.
I’ve not seen the film yet, but I would guess that the man’s reaction on film was that he was insulted that Bruno/Cohen implied that he was a supporter of Bin Laden and lumping Hamas in with Al Quaeda.
No, some people who were in the audience of the talk show filmed in Dallas are suing, as well. I don’t know what for, they don’t even have the same grounds this guy seems to.
Bruno has no idea what he was messing with. The look in that man’s eyes….yikes!
Please please sue and take this douchebag for all you can. I would so love to see this assclown Bruno taken down.
Firstly: define terrorist.
Secondly: he may have been told by his contacts that the guy was a terrorist and therefore believes his statements to be true.
Ofcourse this guys is pissed, hes just been openly mocked on an international scale and will be denying everything.
Sacha is taking advantage of people by filming their reactions to an outrageous character. Its almost a given that some of what he does is going to be offensive – otherwise he wouldn’t generate the reactions he does.
In some smart way Bruno and Borat are observations on society….oooh did I just say that?
Oh wow… I thought they were all actors, just acting in a film? Are you sure they are real people?
I would have thought you’d have to get permission (of the non-actors) before you show them in a movie, thus at some point you have to tell them that its all for a movie? I have no idea…
Incredibly distasteful. (the dirty santa comment funny) Making fun of palestinians being in the plight they are in is not funny. Essentially that was what he was doing. Jokes stop being funny when an oppressed people are the butt of those jokes.
God, I laughed so hard at this movie. It was hysterical and outrageous! I don’t understand why anyone in that audience would sue, though. Emotional distress, maybe? That’s a little silly.
He didn’t throw him out because he was insulted over the Osama comment. He was, however, insulted that he was being associated with Osama Bin Laden. Apparently that man is Lebanese — and even if he were a “terrorist”, Arabs from Lebanon, as those from Iraq, Iran, or wherever, are not interested in being associated with Bin Laden, who is most definitely NOT Lebanese, or Iraqi, or Iranian.
It’s a nuance you wouldn’t pick up on through the clumsy translation and CLEVER editing. Speaking Arabic helps. Being Middle Eastern helps more.
That being said, I thought the film was hilarious.
But perhaps some critic somewhere should turn an eye towards Cohen’s increasingly obvious prejudices. Let’s not forget he’s a Jew.
And before anyone says it, I am neither Arab nor Muslim — nor a terrorist. Just an observer.
😉
Which nuance is that filthy cute?
I noticed cohen’s Jewish leanings for sometime now. No, this was not as funny as Borat.
Mair, Middle Eastern people draw lines between themselves and other Middle Eastern people based on country, based on region, based even on the dialect you speak. So the apparent displeasure this man expressed at being lumped in with Bin Laden likely had more to do with the fact that he isn’t Lebanese and less to do with the fact that he’s widely perceived to be a terrorist.