You could forgive the Kazakh tourism officials for not being enthusiastic about the image of the country as featured in Sacha Baron Cohen's two Borat films. The comedian's character claims to be from the former Soviet republic and fictionalizes all sorts of negative facts about the country. (No, its people don't actually drink horse urine.) But now the country is climbing into the fame of Borat and actually has the comic's slogan "Very nice!" Accepted. as a tourist slogan.
A tourism video released on Sunday shows visitors to Kazakhstan enjoying the country's natural beauty, cuisine, traditions, and urban amenities and a version of "Very nice!" after every experience. And while it's not explained in the video, the man who sips from a ceramic bowl at a market stall without drinking horse urine is actually drinking traditional fermented horse milk, according to the New York Times.
"In COVID times when tourism spending was put on hold, it was good to see the country featured in the media," Kairat Sadvakassov, vice chair of the tourism committee, told the Times. "Not in the nicest way, but it's good to be out there."
And Sacha Baron Cohen himself sent the newspaper a statement praising the country he teases in his films.
"This is a comedy, and Kazakhstan in the film has nothing to do with the real country," he said in part. "The real Kazakhstan is a beautiful country with a modern, proud society - the opposite of Borat's version."
The second borate film, Borat Follow-up film: Amazing bribe handed over to the American regime to support the once glorious nation of Kazakhstanis now available on Amazon Prime Video.
