Palestine Film Festival Review: Kemo Sabe

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During an American game of 'cowboys and Indians,' which side will Youssef choose to be? Does he have a choice? (Photo courtesy of CPFF)

Director Rana Kazkaz’s “Kemo Sabe” is a short film that depicts racial discrimination in America’s youth.

Palestinian-American Youssef wants to be on the side of the cowboys in a neighborhood game of “cowboys and Indians.” However, an Anglo boy named Randy established the rule that cowboys must wear belts with their jeans.

From the sidelines Youssef sees the Anglo cowboys in a huddle developing their strategy. In a separate huddle are the dark-skinned boys who develop their strategy as the Indians.

The piece is about the need for youth to belong amid diverse, ethnic backgrounds despite the biased depictions of ethnic people in American media and culture. People of color are assigned specific roles in TV shows and movies, which deeply affects the way Americans see themselves. In a world where white men are defined and presented as superior, so are their occupying and colonizing ways. “Cowboys and Indians” explains what it means to have an American identity while growing up within a society that emphasizes the importance of white and the white man’s way of living.

Even though Youssef manages to get a belt, Randy declares: “It’s gonna be hard to tell who your enemy is if you start mixing things up.”

Hence, rules can be broken and injustice prevails as long as the “Randys” are in charge. Even though Youssef wants to show Randy he can be a devoted cowboy, Randy has been programmed to think dark-skinned boys are “the enemy.”

In the TV show, “The Lone Ranger,” Tonto called the Lone Ranger, “kemo sabe,” his faithful friend. In the case of Youssef and Randy, Youssef wants acceptance, but Randy denies him the opportunity. The game “cowboys and Indians” illustrates harsh reality, and America’s violent history reflected in the present.

Racial discrimination in America teaches youth to propagate divisions. The film reflects the difficulties people of color have overcome with prescribed roles in white America…a white America that uses force to decide an individual’s fate.

During the 6th Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival, this film will be showing Sunday, April 15th, 5:15 P.M. at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

American Film Institute
Director and Producer: Rana Kazkaz
Country: USA
Year: 2005
Duration: 13 minutes

-U.S. journalist and film critic Sonia Nettnin writes about social, political, economic, and cultural issues. Her focus is the Middle East.

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