The Square is a 2013 documentary film directed by Jehane Noujaim.
It is a documentary of the Egyptian revolution of 2011
and its aftermath. In early 2011, as the Arab Spring roils the Muslim world, the people of Egypt rise up. Tahrir Square in Cairo is filled with protestors demanding the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, who has held power in Egypt for nearly thirty years since his accession after the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat. The popular will forces Mubarak to resign. However, the protesters are unpleasantly surprised when the army, which had promised to bring democracy, instead installs its own dictator. The people then take to the square again.
The film follows about a half-dozen activists, including young idealist Ahmed Hassan, Magdy Ashour of the anti-Mubarak Muslim Brotherhood, and Khalid Abdalla, an actor and movie star of films such as United 93 and The Kite Runner.
Tropes:
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The secret police under Mubarak routinely engage in this, as shown in some ghastly videos linked to the internet.
- Conversation Cut: Protesters in the square chant demands for the government to release the autopsy reports of people killed during the protests. Cut to a woman at the hospital saying "The hospital doesn't want to stamp the autopsy reports," because the autopsies will reveal that the protesters were run over by army transport vehicles.
- Emergency Authority: The protesters note that Mubarak has been governing under the same state of "emergency" for 30 years.
- It Will Never Catch On: Khalid's father, in a video call with his son, confidently predicts that the army wouldn't dare to betray the revolution and seize power. That's exactly what happens.
- Jitter Cam: Seen many times as people with cameras are forced to run from the army and/or government goons attacking them in the square.
- The Last DJ: Although the film is very strongly for the protesters and against the Muslim Brotherhood, the activists still come off as this. They admit that the Brotherhood was able to form a party and provide an alternative to the army, while they were not.
- Meet the New Boss: The activists are not happy when the army, instead of allowing free elections, installs an autocratic dictatorship which is basically Mubarak without Mubarak. The activists take to Tahrir Square again.
- Old Media Are Evil: Khalid complains that the Egyptian media are for the status quo and the military government. He contemplates starting his own TV channel, but has to be content with YouTube videos.
- The Place: The Square, namely Tahrir Square in Cairo, which becomes a focal point of protest.
- We ARE Struggling Together: A theme. At first, everyone is united against the Mubarak government, and then against the army. But fissures start to arise among the revolutionaries, with an open break forming between secular pro-democracy activists such as Ahmed, and the Muslim Brotherhood as represented in the film by Magdy.
