Arrogant 'Amreeka': A 96-Minute Sermon

'Amreeka'

Review: 2/5

There's a palpably didactic declaration that echoes throughout writer/director Cherien Dabis' unambiguously biased American-immigration character study, 'Amreeka,' that insists that a Palestinian view of a recently post 9-11 U.S. is saturated with offensively drawn caricatures, elementary discussion of the Iraq war, the starkness of which is derisory, and an impressionable protagonist, Muna, that's continually susceptible to the oppressive American government, inhabited by malicious police officers, and bankers that politely ask that Muna not blow the bank up if she is to be hired. Not surprisingly, she isn't hired. Instead she's forced to work in a conveniently presented 'White Castle.' When asked by her niece why she didn't at least pick 'Wendy's' she sighs and disregards the comment. America to her is a 'White Castle,' lacking color and inspiration, peopled with overtly oppressive supervisors, and a teenage dropout named 'Matt,' which Muna advises translates to mean 'death' in Arabic. Come on.

The film, which documents Muna and her teenage son Fadi's migration to America, Illinois to be more precise, initially presents these two characters as hopeful and eager to pursue a freer life in the states. Yet, once they arrive at an American airport, they're subject to unnecessary racial profiling that borders on absurdity when an overbearingly stern police officer confiscates a cookie jar that he believes could cause a threat to the airport's safety. It doesn't stop there. Once enrolled in a nearby high-school, Fadi, who's only shown in a class conveniently titled 'Current World Issues' endures white skater-teens' defense of America's invasion of Iraq, while Fadi and his cousin, clearly, argue against this notion. Why the white American teens in this film are intentionally portrayed as racist dogmatists without any significant counter-representation is evidence of an inconsiderate filmmaker who disregards fact to make a superficial argument seem factual. Michael Moore would be proud. And yet, it gets worse. Fadi is soon inundated with the teenage 'American' lifestyle which, we are told, instructs him to wear baggy hoodies and smoke marijuana. On his first night being particularly stoned, he decides to slash the tires of the bigoted white kids in his class. He's in-turn the victim of a beating at school, which the white principal (who we soon learn is a Polish-Jew who can't seem to catch a break in America due to, according to him, his cultural background) justifies, affirming Muna that they're just silly kids.

Aesthetically the film seeks to impart a sense of graphic realism, utilizing a verite' style of shooting that works initially in the film's poignant exposition, but is then compromised by the cartoonish representation of Palestinian life in America. These elements compete when they should unite, creating an uneven narrative and technical balance, which Dabis embraces, attempting to mask superficiality with faux-realism.