At the FeST we saw the Italian premiere of the last show by Sacha Baron Cohen, already aired in the U.S.,
which people have been talking about since last summer.
It claimed a lot of “victims,” making lose chairs and credibility to several American personalities. This is “Who Is America?” and here the reason why you can’t lose it!
Title
“Who Is America?”
Data Sheet
One single season of 7 thirty-minutes episodes, on air in the U.S. since 15th July on Showtime.
In Front of the Camera
Each episode presents four different characters all played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who thanks to his transforming skills managed to create credible enough figures that could deceive anybody.
And in fact, “Who Is America?” is based on this, cheating famous personalities from American television and politics world, putting them in front of the extreme, consequently pushing them to reveal their most basic and extremist sides.
Who’s Got the Typewriter
The team is wide, but the whole thing revolves around the mind of Sacha Baron Cohen, complex and probably also dangerous if left free.
What to Know (ABSOLUTELY NO SPOILERS)
“Who Is America?” is a mockumentary, but it was shot like a real documentary, tricking the respondents and pushing them in unusual situations, like creating a commercial about giving gun to the children to teach them how to defend their classrooms, or tricking an entire village bringing out comments that defining racist would be a compliment.
What You’ll Need
Probably, who doesn’t appreciate Sacha Baron Cohen’s characters like Borat or Ali G will struggle to watch this show, but to think that all the respondents were serious at that time is enough to get hooked on it so to see how far they may go (and just after watching the first two episodes, the answer is far beyond what you may imagine).
What They Say
Instead of reporting the voices of the insiders, it’s best to read one of the reactions of the fooled characters.
One of the victims of this project, for example, is Christy Cones, famous art gallerist from Laguna Beach: “I was approached in mid-May last year, and initially somebody came into the gallery. They said they were from a British reality television show and that they were showing the works of artists and they were going to come in and show the work of an artist. I said, sure. […] I certainly suspected that something might be amiss. How often does someone come to you and say, ‘Hey, we’re from a reality television show and we’re doing this and that.’ People warned me beforehand to watch out, as it might be some kind of a setup. So, I knew that. But none of that bothered me. As soon as the camera went on, my main concern was putting on a good show. I’m a thespian myself, so I wanted to appear entertaining and engaging. We were all in this trancelike state for 90 minutes where we let the art go.”
Out of 5 Monkeys
