Saz: The Palestinian Rapper for Change- Reviews
Educational Media Reviews Online - January 9th, 2007
Reviewed by Lisa Forrest, E. H. Butler Library, State University of New York College at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Recommended
The creation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians —and has resulted in a half century of discord amongst the people of the Middle East. Many Palestinian refugees living in Israel have become victims of job, housing, and social discrimination. An underground movement of Palestinian youth is now speaking out through Westernized hip-hop music, often rapped in a mix of Arabic and Hebrew. Israeli filmmaker, Gil Karni, focuses on one such musician, 20 year old Palestinian hip-hop star Semeh Zakout (popularly known as “Saz”). Actively voicing his political frustration, Saz advocates for equality between the people of Israel through his lyrics and music. Raised in the Jewish neighborhood of Ramlah, young Saz struggles to find understanding between the differing political viewpoints of his family and the injustice that he feels each day. Music helps to bridge this gap—from night club outings to an organized meeting of Jewish-Arab youth, this well constructed film provides candid insight into the difficulties of growing up in a land of conflict. Sure to promote thoughtful classroom discussion, this film is recommended for those studying contemporary Palestinian-Israeli relations, and the link between music, history, and culture. (Downloadable guidebook is available from the Choices website.)
Video Librarian - March/April 2007
Saz: The Palestinian Rapper for Change 
(2006) 51 min. In Arabic & Hebrew w/English subtitles. DVD: $49.95. Choices, Inc. PPR. ISBN: 1-933724-09-9.
Filmmaker Gil Karni’s Saz tries to personalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by presenting a year-long portrait of a young Palestinian from the ghetto of Ramlah who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, but now acutely feels the oppression of the occupation, expressing his anger through his music, which he hopes will help both sides understand each other. Viewers watch as Sameh Zakout—Saz is his stage name—composes songs, performs before homeland crowds, and then travels to clubs in Europe as his career shows signs of taking off internationally. Although Saz’s mixture of suppressed rage and subdued hope in his music is inspiring, what’s most touching here is the young man’s relationship with his father and grandfather (the film is especially poignant when the grandfather reminisces about the Palestinians’ expulsion from their land during the 1948 war and bickers with Sameh about pursuing a musical career, urging him to get a real job instead; the scene of the two reuniting after the activist rapper has made initial contacts within the music industry boasts quiet power). DVD extras include the lyrics of two of Saz’s songs, along with printed translations, and a downloadable study guide. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)