In Romanian village, Borat's name is mud

Residents of a remote Romanian village have joined the backlash against Sacha Baron Cohen's hit movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Villagers in Glod, Romanian for "mud," are threatening to sue the film's producers for paying them a pittance to stand in for a Kazahk village in the movie.

They say they are horrified and humiliated after learning the movie ridicules their abject poverty and simple ways.

The residents say filmmakers got them to put farm animals in their homes and perform other crude antics.

"We thought they came here to help us — not mock us," said Dana Luca, 40.

"We haven't got anything here. We haven't got running water. We can't even bathe," she said. "We are poor people, but we are still people."
Borat has raked in $67 million US at the U.S. box office in its first two weeks.

Cohen plays an anti-Semitic Kazahk journalist named Borat, a character he created for Da Ali G Show, who travels across the U.S., meeting ordinary Americans.

Some of the Americans caught in Borat's elaborate hoax have sued him. They include two fraternity brothers who were caught on film making racist comments.

Glod is populated by Roma, and is in one of the poorest parts of Romania.

Only five residents have jobs — the rest eke out a living from growing apples, pears and plums, gathering mushrooms and raising chickens.

Their houses, made of crumbling brick and corrugated iron, have no central heating or running water.

Roma leader Nicolae Staicu says officials will meet with a public ombudsman Wednesday to plan their legal strategy.

Staicu says people in the town resent the way they were tricked by the filmmakers.

They say they were paid just $3.30 to $5.50 US for their help in the film, which is shown in the opening scene of Borat.

They also were told the movie was a documentary and they were not offered proper film contracts, he alleges.

"These people are poor and they were tricked by people more intelligent than us."

There was no comment from Cohen's agent in London or Fox, the producer of Borat.

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