The Square

While some documentaries are constructed to prove a point, sell an ethic, or construct a moral argument, The Square provides a window into the street level perspective of a revolution as it follows the protests in Tahrir Square, Cairo, following the start of the Arab Spring in 2011.  While it does not attempt to provide a multi-sided story, it strives to show the desires, drive, and emotions of those who are dedicated to their cause in seeing true democracy in the country that they love so dearly. 

The movie follows a group of revolutionaries who are seeking to end the system of government in Egypt, and bring in one that is free from corruption and offers equal opportunities to all.  Not only are these people followed in the film, but they are also given cameras during different events to allow for many different perspectives on what transpires.  Director Jehane Noujaim started the project while it was in its early days, and followed it through up until the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi in July of 2013.  Noujaim had The Square edited and screening at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, but headed back to Egypt to get footage of the ongoing protests.

What really adds weight to this film is that it feels like we start gaining an attachment to the documentary’s main principles, and so their struggle ultimately becomes a desire that we begin to feel ourselves.  We see their successes, learn of their mistakes, and see them celebrate as well as find them at moments where the trauma of the resistance they face has them at a point of almost quitting.  Our heart breaks for them, and the commitment they show becomes an inspiration as atrocities are unable to ultimately break their spirits, but eventually fuel them to continue on.  While a cause can run out of steam and emotion after a few weeks, we gain a perspective of people who will fight for years, the kind of individuals whose characters are capable of changing the world.

It is this glimpse that we get that really makes this film so special.  While it is one thing to follow a movement by keeping up on the news, we see through this story that there is a lot more than meets the eye.  There is so much to the narrative that it is impossible to truly get a sense for what is happening on ground level.  Each side does what it can to win public opinion and tell its story, and The Square allows a glimpse behind all of that to see the front line actions and the meetings behind the scenes.    We see the personal dilemmas that the participants put themselves in, and how quickly a movement that starts out pure and unified can begin to fracture as people start to desire outcomes that benefit them individually.

Allowing for all of this to be pulled off is the use of many cameras that are small enough and portable enough to get into all of the different situations without being so big that they gain the attention of the authorities.  There is a moment when there is a confrontation and the filming abruptly stops, and apparently it was a quick switch of memory cards that ensured that footage would make the film.  One can only imagine what the documentary would have been if the film makers never had any footage confiscated (there were times where they lost footage) but what they assembled was incredibly powerful.

What we can take away from this documentary is that when there is corruption, there is no cut and dry approach.  There is no easy solution, and there is no quick fix.  It shows the power of the people, that when citizens are willing to stand together bravely and be undeterred, governments and institutions cannot stand.  We learn that those who lead such movements are incredibly special people, committed to a dream and a vision, who are able to share that with others, and who have a true understanding of the sacrifice that is needed to achieve the goal.  The most powerful thing we learn is that change was not instituted by groomed leaders or people who were born with a silver spoon in hand, but that rising from the populace were ordinary people who had a belief in what was right.

Rating – 4 out of 4 stars