If democratic changes truly spring from the power of the people, then “The Square” is the film everyone should watch to become inspired to pursue the political changes they want. Jehane Noujaim’s remarkable documentary “the Square” has already raked Audience Awards at both the Toronto and Sundance film festivals and seems poised to continue educating audiences who get a thorough look at how Egypt’s own Arab Spring came to happen.
The film begins in January 2011 as a group of people concentrated in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demanded then-President Hosni Mubarak put an end to his regime. Thousands of protesters from all walks of life, religions and social classes got together in “the square” to demand that their voices were heard. Shortly after Mubarak resigned, leading to celebrations that would be cut short with the imposition of an even more terrible regime at hands of the military. Even though the film spans for what sound like a relatively short three years, director Noujaim cleverly sums up how the rapid succession of events in Egypt have completely turned the country upside down.
Noujaim is smart enough to show his audiences the way in which the revolution changed Egypt through a series of personal stories that include those of working-class youth Ahmed Hassan, Muslim Brotherhood member Magdy Ashour and “The Kite Runner” actor Khalid Abdalla (whose voice is broadcast in the Western world in a way none of the others are, revealing the biases in international media coverage). Through their anecdotes and videos, we see how these people are battered by the change and how some of them go from being loyal friends to quasi-enemies, faced against each other for their religious convictions.
The director makes a point out of reminding us just how important cinema is as a medium of change (perhaps the ultimate one even). One of the characters explains “as long as there’s a camera the revolution will continue” and this is a theme that’s recurred in several other films at the New York Film Festival. Perhaps we’re seeing the arrival of a new wave of political cinema in which the camera truly becomes the most democratic medium of expression? These people never stop shooting, even as they are attacked with tear gas, tanks and guns! Regardless, “The Square” should be required viewing for anyone interested in contemporary history and plain and simple: humanity. It is a movie that will enrage, inspire and shock you, and as such it should not be missed.
