The Dictator

By

Larry Charles

And

Sacha Baron Cohen

Do cheap and direct gags enhance satire or undermine it? It would all seem to depend on whether or not you’re laughing.  The Dictator tells the story of general Aladeen leader of the fictional country of Wadiya; his reign includes such ridiculous actions as replacing several important words in the language with his own name, and running in a race in which he shoots the other competitors.  Aladeen is forced to visit New York to give an address before the U.N. While he is visiting New York Aladeen is kidnapped by his uncle Tamir (Ben Kingsley) and replaced with a double. Now Aladeen must try and regain his seat before western style democracy is forced upon his people.

Describing the plot of a film like The Dictator really does it a disservice, since this film is not plot driven, instead the film is really a series of gags taking on Cohen’s numerous targets. Power mad dictators and foreign countries willingness to do business with them, eco-friendly stores, Israeli-Arab relations, American knee-jerk conservatism, and naïve political demonstrators all get skewered. Some criticism has been leveled at the film for it’s portrayal of Arabs, which is somewhat valid, but it requires one to ignore that every character in the movie is a broad stereotype.

Unlike Cohen’s previous two films, Borat and Bruno, his current movie features all actors, relying on improvisation to bring the same level of manic energy Cohen’s fans have come to know and love. Additionally the film features some nice supporting cast members, such as John C Reilly as a racist bodyguard, Anna Farris as a Health Food Store owner who Aladeen falls for, and Bobby Lee as the Chinese ambassador. During a recent interview with Terry Gross, Cohen stated that while working on the film Hugo he asked director Martin Scorsese advice on how to set up a good shot while improvising with large groups of actors.

What gives the film its extra punch is that it mocks not only abusive leaders such as Mummar Gaddafi on who Aladeen was based, but also the international community that allows such leaders to exist. To give you an example of the crazy, Gadaffi  kept and all female group of specially trained bodyguards, this wasn't one or two, around forty were with him in the later days of his regime.

 Egypt under Hosni Mubarak and Libya under Gadaffi were brutally oppressive regimes, which the United States, Britain, and other western nations were perfectly willing to do business with. When the Arab Spring arrived suddenly the West had always wanted democracy for these nations. 

Odd enough Gadaffi isn't the most evil man in this picture

Hosni Mubarak and a retarded man from Texas sometime before the Arab Spring.

Despots like the Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, or Bashar al-Assad in Syria exist, because the international community is often willing to support whatever leader is willing to sell oil and other resources at an agreeable price, or because world leaders prefer debates amongst themselves over taking any meaningful action. While The Dictator may not strike any bold new ground in cinematic comedy, it provides some solid laughs, which while often offensive, are rarely mean spirited. It’s a comedy that tries to make you think, but not that much.

Shawn Barron

05/24/2012