The square is a 2013 documentary film, shot by Jehane Noujaim, an Egyptian-American film director who grew up a few minutes away from Tahrir Square. The film covers two years of protests that began on 25th January 2011. Noujaim teamed up with several activists from all factions involved, documenting their and others’ struggles for more than two years. Khalid Abdalla, a movie star and son of an exiled former Egyptian liberal activist and politician, Ahmed Hassan, a Cairo resident is the guide in the chaos at Tahrir; Magdy Ashour, one of the Muslim Brotherhood; Aida El Kashef, a filmmaker and Ramy Essam, a singer-songwriter.
The film's title is evoked by its geographic focal point, Tahrir Square, where very significant demonstrations took place in protest of Hosni Mubarak’s rule, the army's rule, the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Morsi. A roundabout in Cairo, the square is a symbolic piece of land, becoming a rallying point for the convergence of forces that seek to transform and revolutionize Egypt for the better.
The film depicts the unity of three main factions; the army, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Egyptians who were on neither side, before the overthrow of Mubarak. They were united in anger and hope; in the idea of freedom from oppression by the government, a dictator, high unemployment, taxation, a long state of emergency law that was implemented before their time, and other factors. This space that they occupied in vast numbers, protesting together as people, as Egyptians, regardless of belief, symbolized the lengths of unity they would go to, to ensure a liberal, all-inclusive nation that they had desired for so long. The film captures the sentiments of some of the protestors who did not believe they would ever see the day when such unity propelled the people of their nation to see a tyrant fall.
However, after Mubarak’s fall, the army clears the people from Tahrir, and when they protest, an all-new war ensues, and tension is everywhere with the military running the country. Hassan can be seen saying that it is not a revolution; it is a war. The Muslim Brotherhood then signs a deal with the army, where then after Mohammed Morsi was elected as president. But with Morsi’s reign comes increased insecurity in the streets and a fallen economy, so people ally to oust him- secularists, liberalists, and some people from the old regime, and others who are unsatisfied with his ruling. Morsi’s supporters are the Muslim Brotherhood, and so this creates a new divide among people who once fought together for the removal of Mubarak, just one year before. Magdy was torn between his Brotherhood and his friends who were opposed to Morsi. Later on, however, the Brotherhood is forcibly removed by the military.
Tahrir, in Arabic, means liberation. This piece of land transformed from a patch of desert during the time of the Ancient Egyptians, to a marshland when the Nile changed course and broke through during the time of the Fatmids, to a dry land inhabited by Napoleon and his French men, to a Greenfield during the time of Mohamed Ali. The area was later rebuilt through Khedive Ismail’s plans, using Paris as an inspiration. It was then named Ismailia Square. Even back then, the people of Egypt, on two occasions, used the square to come together to oppose the British and later on, King Farouk. It was Gamal Abdul Nasser who had the name changed to Tahrir and for good reason at that (“A History of Tahrir Square”).
One of the stars of the film, Khalid Abdalla, an actual movie star best known for his role in The Kite Runner, came back to Cairo on hearing of the planned protests to overthrow the government after being in exile in England for so long. He stated that “The battle is not rocks and stones. The battle is in the imagesthe stories,” proving the very importance of this film in telling the story of the Egyptian revolution.
Critics, however, argue that Noujaim was partial; the Washington Post, in a review of the film, claimed that the movie had a one-sided and polemic view of the Brotherhood; that her documentation clearly showed she was for the secularists (Hornaday).
Even though Abdalla and Hassan hoped for liberalism and a democratic nation, they could not get their hands dirty. This is not a bad thing; as a matter of fact the taking of lives or oppression of people to fight another tyranny regime is despicable but to achieve what they wanted for the people, this is exactly what they would have required. This is why it was so easy for the army to chase them away from Tahrir Square; why it was so easy for the Brotherhood to use their ruling leaders to begin an Islamic regime; because they did not place limits on just how far they would go to do so.
Even if the country is yet to know absolute peace, the liberalism that was unleashed in 2011, depicted by the events in this film for those of us who seek to understand what happened, can never be taken back. Noujaim’s chronicle of the events at the square cannot be unwritten. People now know the story of Egypt and the future children of the revolution that ensued will know the story so should they have to fight for their freedom ever again, they will have inspiration; they will have faith that even the young people can fight for change like Ahmed Hassan. Tahrir Square will always hold a certain geographical and historical significance for the nation. This is a space that will always provide an arena for revolution.
Works Cited
“A History of Tahrir Square”. Harvard University Press Blog. N.p., 2011. Web. 4 Aug. 2016.
Amer, Karim, Jehane Noujaim, and H S. Salinas. Al-maydān =: The Square. , 2014.
Hornaday, Ann. "‘The Square’ Is a Troubling, Exhilarating Portrait of the Uprisings in Cairo in 2011 and Their Aftermath.". Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 4 Aug. 2016.
