The New Kazakhstan
Austria losing its cool over new Borat movie depicting Austrian gay, Nazi-adoring lifestyle journalist
Austrian authorities were somewhat concerned over the weekend after sources in the film industry reported that Sacha Baron Cohen, the star of the controversial movie Borat, is planning to shoot a film in the waltz capital this summer. The new film titled "Bruno" will depict "a gay, stupid, self-centered and Nazi-adoring Austrian, lifestyle journalist." Sources in the film industry say the character will juxtapose the Austrians' relationship towards homosexuals alongside that of foreigners.
In one of the scenes, Bruno will suggest sending singer Ricky Martin to a ghetto and actor Burt Reynolds to Auschwitz when he comes to power. Filming is due to commence this summer and will not lack sources of funding. All the major film studios from Universal to Twentieth Century Fox are competing for the rights of the film.
When Sacha Baron Cohen's plans became known, the Austrian press deliberated over the question what such a film could do to Austria's image. Will the billions of dollars invested in promoting tourism to Austria in recent years be squandered as a result of one crazy movie? Will tourists now think of Nazis, concentration camps and xenophobia instead of mountains, lakes and ski slopes?
Surprisingly, not everyone thinks this is the case. Simon Anchold, an advertising agency owner, expects positive results. "How many people actually knew there was a country called Kazakhstan before seeing the movie Borat?" he asked. According to Anchold the film will help publicize Austria worldwide.
'They should have only been apathetic'
Meanwhile, the far-right party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, is preparing a bill proposing that Borat will be banned from shooting the film. Baron has continually been granting interviews as part of the public relations drive for the movie.
Last week he related to the criticism against his film. In an interview to the Rolling Stone Magazine, Baron Cohen spoke of the motives for making the film and the message he was trying to convey, saying that the film highlighted the absurdity of prejudice whether it's hatred towards blacks or Jews. Borat basically serves as a tool, he said. The fact that he (Borat) is anti-Semitic, makes people reveal their true nature and prejudices, he said.
Baron Cohen who studied history at Cambridge University, said he had been influenced by historian Ian Kershaw, who accused part of humanity of being apathetic.
"I know that it's not particularly funny for a comedian to talk about the Holocaust, but I don't think all the people in Germany should have been avid anti-Semitists. They should have only been apathetic," he said.
Baron Cohen also reiterated that he is a religious Jew who keeps kosher and that his parents liked the jokes about the Jews in his movie, he added that he even received the approval of his 91-year-old grandmother who resides in Israel.
