The Square

Review by David Hamilton
Review by Pilar Canón Ríos

The short: 

As protests sweep the Middle East, demonstrators take to the streets in Egypt’s Tahrir Square attempting to bring change and democracy to the country.

A documentary movie that recounts the events that occurred in the Egyptian revolution from 2011, with the protest and rally against Hosni Mubarak in Tahir Square, until 2013, with the fall of Mohamed Morsi.

The long: 

This documentary-style film follows Ahmed Hassan, Khalid Abdulla, and Magdy Ashour as they navigate the protests at Tahrir Square. Ahmed and Khalid are part of the group of revolutionaries not connected to any political parties, while Magdy is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Together, they endure attacks by security forces in the Square during the efforts to topple Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. After Mubarak falls, the military takes over, and once again the people return to the streets. Eventually, cracks begin to appear among the revolutionaries as unaligned demonstrators and Muslim Brotherhood supporters begin to clash with each other. After Mohamed Morsi wins the presidency, tensions between the two sides reach a boiling point.

Jehane Noujaim tells the story of the Egyptian revolution through the eyes of six different protestants. Beginning with the Tahir Square sit-in against the Mubarak regime, Egyptian citizens, regardless of their political or religious orientation, gather to demand Mubarak's withdrawal and political reforms in the country. The character’s experiences show the difficulties, dangers, and violence Egyptian people had to face to demand and claim a well-being state away from the prevailing corruption to which they had been subjected for more than thirty years. A documentary that will move you and make you reflect on how the media portrays or hide the truth behind political events such as this.

To watch or not to watch:

Watch! The documentary provides an interesting, up-close look at the protests that swept across Egypt between 2011 and 2013. It also gives an amazing insight into the politics and differences that emerged among the different groups demonstrating in Tahrir Square which were ultimately taken advantage of by the Egyptian military.

This is, without a doubt, a movie that deserves to be seen.  For those who are interested in social movements, this documentary movie is just perfect. It drags you into the environment of those days when the desire for freedom and justice imbued the streets of Egypt. Not only it is an accurate depiction of the truth lived at that time, but a tribute to those who lost their lives for a cause.