The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen is given more power than he should be allowed

Release Date: May 16, 2012
Director: Larry Charles
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley
Plot: After Admiral General Hafaz Aladeen is forced to come before the United Nations Security Council to answer for his crimes against humanity, he falls victim to a nefarious plot instigated by his Oil Obsessed Greedy Uncle. Now he has to alert the Council to the plot and in doing so has to learn how to survive in a society that condemns his own as evil.

Well this review kind of got away from me didn't it. I have to admit though it is primarily because I have been occupied with the pesky job search which has taken up so much of my time these last few months. However, here it is at last.

I've never really been a fan of a film that is headlined by Sacha Baron Cohen. Don't get me wrong I think he has some talent as a performer with his roles in Martin Scorsese's Hugo or Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd, but I just find myself detesting the characters that he, himself creates which, for those very select few who don't know them are: Ali G, Borat, Bruno and now Admiral General Hafaz Aladeen. I don't know if I am in the minority or majority but I just find them too much. Controversy for controversy's sake is just not a brand of humour with which I am completely enamoured and so due to my dislike of his previous creations I kind of went into this film without high expectations, and to be honest I personally feel that overall I was right to do so. While the film does have its highlights, which I will elaborate on later, it felt to me as if his long running stream of controversial comedy had seemingly run dry...it just tried to hard.

However the film did have its positives. One of things I loved about this film, and something which is shared in all of his films are the celebrities, often world respected Thespians who are able to sort of put aside their prestige and dignity and appear in what more often than not is a self mocking jab at themselves. With Ali G it was Charles Dance, who is a titan amongst British theatre actors and Michael Gambon who has won so many awards throughout his career that they occupy their own Wikipedia page! The Dictator's celebrity cast includes Sir Ben Kingsley as the main villain, though to be honest his performance was a little unusual in so much that unlike the others, he played it completely straight and there is little direct humour in it, but neither is there much menace, he seems almost bored a lot of the time which is a shame because who knows, a good performance by him may have elevated the film's overall quality. Celebrity cameos which did work in my opinion were that of Edward Norton, playing himself as the latest conquest of Mr Lao (Bobby Lee) who's mantra of "everyone has a price" is once again proven true. In addition Megan Fox appears as herself who is revealed to be moonlighting as a high price prostitute, what amused me about that scene was Megan's ability to treat herself as a joke and was one of the more simplistic moments which created a more light hearted atmosphere to which I could relate to. Look also for the selection of A to D list celebrities who have also experienced Aladeen's 'company'.

The Performances were as expected. Sacha Baron Cohen imbued Admiral General Aladeen with a sense of naivety and childlike stupidity that is now a trademark of his creations. Selfish and comically sadistic we watch as he undergoes a 'transformation' of character after he loses his position of power and is shown how the world works outside his palace walls, and we watch as his experiences in Western Culture alter his perceptions of the more obvious social issues, primarily Women's rights. In addition he is also a means to subtly mock the fascist regimes that America has spent the better part of 20 years seeking to abolish, with this in mind it would seem that the Dictator is simply a film which joins America's campaign against the World's dictators. However, this idea is muddled with the introduction of John C Reilly's character, (the only funny one in the film if you ask me) who is the stereotypical American red-neck with power, racist and incredibly right wing he is just as much a piece of negative satire as Aladeen himself so it kind of puts the idea of this film being a comedy campaign piece to rest and instead seems to subtly attack everyone from the American Government, to Fascist Dictators to the oil obsessed politicians. It could have worked well but the jokes weren't good enough to allow it to be, instead it felt clumsy and awkward, and poor Anna Faris can barely keep her head above water amid the maelstrom of political mockery as Aladeen's feminist, hairy love interest. Instead, she is left to remind our main character that Women do have a place in our society and yet in the end shows that she lacks the strength of a true feminist as not only does she fall head over heels from him almost overnight, but she abandons her environmental pursuits and simply lives as part of his regime thus sacrificing her rights as a Woman.

In regards to the narrative it is quite simplistic which works well for a film of this nature, while there are number of sub plots in the film they are never really brought to a satisfying conclusion and seem to just dry up quite quickly, oddly enough the villain's plot is seemingly one of these sub-plots instead the film's primary narrative is the the now out of date 'fish out of water' scenario that is consistent with all of Baron Cohen's films: Ali G in the House of Commons, Borat, Bruno and now Aladeen travelling out of their native habitat to the unsuspecting United States. It is predictable and now extremely unfunny in my opinion. Watching him struggle with his surroundings, attempting to adapt to Western Ideals, such as the fact that we do not put our female babies in the bin or that Women have equal rights, feels forced, perhaps a few years ago it would have retained some sense of controversial humour, but he has been doing the same thing with only a change of nationality to differentiate his characters. Perhaps it is time for Baron Cohen to give up attempting to create his own comedy characters.

I am well aware that this is not my most detailed review, but there is really not much to say about this film, the only bit that made me laugh out loud was in the trailer: Aladeen and his frenemy discussing their plans in Arabic on a helicopter flight with a clearly terrified American couple who think they are about to be involved with a suicide bombing, and Aladeen's attempts to create his own Olympic Games was shown in every trailer before the film's release which meant that even that had lost the full extent of its comedic potential. It was an easy film to watch I'll give it that, but it is far from the comedy that we were promised. It was simplistic, unoriginal and largely unfunny. Unless you are hard pressed for something to watch, or have been a loyal fan of Baron Cohen's then I would give this a miss, because it is certainly not going to win over any critics.

That being said I don't really have anything against Sacha Baron Cohen, as I said previously, I enjoy him in films where he doesn't headline. I also look forward to seeing him take on the role of Monsieur Thenardier, my favourite character, in Les Miserables. To be released later this year.