Documentary Reviews

The Square

The Square is a documentary about the battle of freedom of the Egyptian people.Taking place at the Tahrir Square, the demonstrators spent hours, days and months here begging for freedom and demanding the removal of President Hosni Mubarak. 

The most beautiful thing about this film was that it didn't just show you the struggles of the protest but it engaged the audience by following specific people throughout their everyday life and made you feel like you were experiencing the struggles with them. The best thing about this documentary is that it gives you the insight of what it is like to be in this scenario that the media often leaves out. These people would get beaten, abused and objectified by their government. Also it shows the division of religion and how important it is in this part of the country. The idea of a "brotherhood" is very important and often conflicted people from what they believe is right and what they had to believe was right to fit in. Surprisingly enough though towards the end of the documentary you feel a sense of unity between all the religions which was the climax of the film.

 Once the unity took place that was when the people overtook the government and the president finally stepped down from office.

Citizen Four

This is your typical favorite TV show happening in real life. Laura Poitras recieves emils from a person calling themselves "citizen four". Citizen Four who we later find out is Edward Showden claims he has information of government wrongdoing. Edward tells Laura that he was proof on the governmnet's massive covert-surveillance programs. Laura is told to take reporter Glenn Greenwald to Hong Kong with her to meet Citizen Four. This is when we begin to see the hotel interviews with Showden. The content of his findings is underwhelming only due to the fact that we have already heard about it in the news but his actions and seeing everyone there is an intense feeling. The fact that these people risked their lives and freedom to show the truth behind their own government and having the whole moments broadcast on film to watch was beautiful to experience.