Kindness produces a starring role
The everyday folks used as props in Sacha Baron Cohen's satirical comedies can be made to look foolish or worse. An Oklahoma City woman, however, is winning accolades for her kindness and decency.
The Oklahoman's Carla Hinton wrote this week about the experience of Jeanise Jones, lead usher at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, who wound up unknowingly in the movie “Borat 2.”
Movie producers showed up at the church one day looking for a “Black grandmother” to mentor a young woman featured in the “documentary” that follows Cohen's character, Borat Sagdiyev, and his stowaway teenage daughter on their adventures in the United States.
Benita Gillispie, the church's finance secretary and adult women's Sunday school leader, thought of Jones, 62. A divorced mother of three and grandmother of six, Jones “was known throughout the church as a person who combined a penchant for being candid with a nurturing and loving spirit,” Hinton wrote.
Jones reluctantly agreed to help, then was taken to Guthrie where she met “Borat.” He introduced her to his “daughter,” who was shackled by a ball and chain. Borat refused when Jones asked him to free the girl; when the “father” left the residence, Jones removed the apparatus.
“I thought we were mentoring this young lady to show her how to act,” Jones said. “As soon as he left, I took that ball and chain off her.”
She grew fond of the girl, and was angered somewhat by the father's treatment of the teenager, which she believed related to their native customs. At one point, she sought out her pastor, the Rev. Derrick Scobey, and ask him to pray with her for the girl.
“His deal was for her to marry a rich man so she had to do all these things and get and keep an older man with money,” Jones said.
Since the movie's premier last week on Amazon Prime, Jones has become a star on social media:
“This lady right here has a heart of gold!” one person said.
“We all need to start showing a lot of love and compassion like Jeanise did in #Borat.”
“I wasn't expecting Borat 2 to have a moral compass, but Jeanise Jones is the first hero to ever emerge from a Sacha Baron Cohen setup.”
Jones said she harbors no ill will for having been duped, and that she has been “blown away” by the praise coming her way. Her pastor, however, is among those who are not the least bit surprised.
“There was some darkness (in the film),” Scobey said, “but I called Jeanise … and said our motto is to reflect Jesus in all we do and Jeanise, she was light shining in a dark movie.”
By simply being herself, this accidental movie star produced a master class on character and caring. Brava!