The Square

Jehane Noujaim – 2013 – Egypt

Impassioned documentary about the popular uprisings in Egypt throughout 2011 and 2012 against President Mubarek’s government and the military junta that succeeded it.  The film is interesting and certainly profiles an important subject, but I felt that in many ways it succeeds in spite of itself.  The film starts out as a glowing love-letter to Egypt’s youthful and articulate protestors, but gradually has to segue into a frustrated examination of the various factions and their conflicting agendas.  The film seems to lament the disunity among the revolutionaries, as though it came as a surprise in the middle of what was supposed to be an inspiring celebration of grass-roots activism.  I, however, would have admired the film a bit more if it had undertaken to explore just such ambiguities, which are inevitable and should not be regarded as an aberration by any intelligent observers.  Instead, even though all evidence points to the sad fact that human beings are hard-wired to quarrel given enough time, the film still attempts to portray the organizers and participants as almost supernaturally righteous.  The film presents the uprisings as a success regardless of the protestors’ divisions, but that is a short-sighted and disingenuous conclusion.  Yes, Mubarek was ousted, but he has only been replaced by a succession of generals, each of whom promises to meet the people’s demands, and each of whom fails to do so.  This is the problem with using movies as history; in the movies, life is a dramatic conflict between good guys and bad guys, a conflict that good usually wins decisively.  The real world doesn’t always comply with this formula.