High-five! About one hour after our initial writing that Amazon was being sued over some content in the recently released Borat Subsequent Movie Film a report has arrived revealing the suit has been dismissed. Deadline reports that Fulton County Georgia Judge Kevin Farmer dismissed the suit and pointed toward “several defects in the plaintiff’s case” including elements pointed out by the producers of the film. The original suit was filed by the surviving family of Judith Dim Evans, a Holocaust survivor that appears in the film and whom the entire feature is dedicated to as she passed away before its release. They alleged she was tricked into appearing in the film and that her release form may have been a forgery.
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“The lawsuit was dismissed, unconditionally. The lawsuit is over,” Amazon attorney Russell Smith wrote in a statement. “Sacha Baron Cohen was deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with Judith Dim Evans, whose compassion and courage as a Holocaust survivor has touched the hearts of millions of people who have seen the film. Judith’s life is a powerful rebuke to those who deny the Holocaust, and with this film and his activism, Sacha Baron Cohen will continue his advocacy to combat Holocaust denial around the world.”
Those that have seen the movie know that the sequence featuring Judith Dim Evans serves as a moving moment for the titular Borat as he learns about the hardships of the Jewish communities and that the atrocities of the holocaust were real and did happen. It marks a major change for the “Kazakh journalist” who has routinely mocked Jewish people with extreme hyperbole (while mostly using these jokes to target anti-semitic sentiments). Evans’ estate alleged that she was duped by the interview and thought she was participating in a serious documentary about the holocaust.
Deadline further reported that Dim Evans was “clued in on the gag after it was shot” and that footage of this explanation exists. The trade further revealed that Cohen had someone on the production inform Evans that not only is Cohen actually Jewish but that he was “playing an ignorant character as a means of Holocaust education, by featuring a Holocaust survivor who ends up challenging the anti-Semite by charmingly telling her own story.” A special feature on Amazon Prime Video can also be accessed in the film featuring Evans recounting her family’s story in World War II.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
