How we saw off Brüno

[IndianaGreen]

Murray and Brenda, on the left, with fellow dancers in Birmingham, Alabama, cottoned on to Brüno's act

How we saw off Brüno

Murray Echols was a 75-year-old Alabama pensioner innocently indulging his passion for ballroom dancing. Then along came Sacha Baron Cohen and his film crew ...

Saturday, 11 July 2009

Looking back, I should have seen it was a set-up, but they were smart. The caller introduced himself as Todd Lewis, a Los Angeles producer. His company, he explained, was making a film for a German broadcaster about the American south, in particular my home town Birmingham, Alabama.

<snip>

It was agreed that Todd and his cameras would shoot a dance at the Vestavia Hills civic centre in a suburb of Birmingham on Monday 9 February. The people there are mainly in their 70s. I was there with Brenda, who's 64. Todd's operation was impressive. They turned up in a motorhome with four cameramen and a crew chief. There were also two front men, and one woman, all aged between 30 and 35.

Our visitors were thoughtful. They'd taken along 100 or so 12in red hearts to put on the wood panel walls (it was a Valentine's event). Entrance to this dance is $5 (£3), but the crew paid that for the 110 people attending. All we had to do, they told us, was sign sheets of paper at a card table set up by the door. The generosity continued. They gave the man running the dances $300 and the band leader another $100. What nice people, we thought. All the while, though, they were drawing us into their game. After 30 minutes of dancing, a man who was obviously a performer appeared. He had short blond hair and two tufts near the front. He wore a sleeveless white shirt, black leather waistcoat and trousers, and 16in pointed gold boots. Oh, and a black tie. I've seen slim ties in my time, but this was a little hokey.

The man said he was Austrian and didn't speak English; occasionally he pulled out an English-German phrasebook. I now know this was Sacha Baron Cohen. Then the crew asked to put on their own music – probably on an MP3 player – to avoid copyright infringement, they said. It was lousy, a cross between an Argentine tango and swing. The "Austrian" started dancing with a second actor who'd walked in from their vehicle and was less flamboyantly dressed. As they danced, they would throw each other to the side and then pull one another back, leaping up into each other's arms.

To be honest, they were good, although at most ballroom dances in the US we tend to dance with the opposite sex. One couple walked out, but no one else was shocked. At the climax of the dance, the other actor dipped Sacha's head back and kissed him on the lips for about 15 seconds. Little shocks me. I lived all over the States for eight years working as a consulting engineer and was based in San Francisco for two years in the 1960s. Folks from Alabama aren't easily offended and, contrary to what you might think, are inclined to live and let live. But one thing really gets to them – knowing they've been duped.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/how-we-saw-off-brno-1741933.html

[Warpy]

1. This article is disappointing

because it doesn't say which part of him they sawed off.

[Deja Q]

3. In Soviet Russia, body part saws Bruno

Wait, that's not Bruno's shtick...

[NashVegas]

11. Well, You DO Have to Wonder, How On Earth Did He Think Ballroom Dancers Would Be Offended By Gays?

Like it's nothing they've ever dealt with?

Unless the idea is that he's satirizing the closeted gays there. And then, yeah, I can see why some people would get pissed.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Excellent -

I can't see why anyone thinks this guy is funny. His schtick depends entirely on making fun of unsuspecting people. That's not funny - that's exploitation, and this story is about as hateful as anything can be.

What kind of a society are we, to applaud this jerk, this talentless, witless fool?

[Buzz Clik]

5. You should have stopped at the end of your first sentence.

You don't have to think he is funny, and you can be offended by his exploitation of people.

But witless? Talentless? As I said, you should have stopped while you were ahead.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Buzz Clik]

7. "Dickwad"? You launch this sort of insult over a disagreement over a film?

Holy shit. What would your reaction be if we disagreed over something important?

I thrive on rattling cages. We'll meet again. I predict I'll have more fun next time than you.

[Tunkamerica]

8. Your schtick must be hilarious.

and this has been done forever. Hidden camera shows have been on the air almost as long as television and they've always been popular. This is no different except he's making a statement about homophobia. Is that really so bad?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. What's your problem?

I don't have the same opinion as you do, so now you're gonna lecture me on "Candid Camera"?

Come on. It's a big world. There's room for my taste, and there's room for yours. I'm not gonna land on you because you don't share my opinion of what's funny, and I'd appreciate it if you'd take your puny little lecture somewhere else.

I don't have a schtick, darling - only amateurs need schtick........................

[Tunkamerica]

10. I didn't think I had a problem.

Maybe I do. Somehow you've flipped the script where you were calling people names into an attack against you. If you really believe there's room for differing tastes, which I agree with you about, then why your original post saying that our society is somehow lacking because of some people's taste?

[Buzz Clik]

4. This article is an interesting bit of catharsis.

The writer starts out simply reporting what happened, then reliving his anger, reaffirming his anger, then laughing at the whole thing.

[trumanh59639]

12. I'm DYING to see that

I loved Borat.