Award-Winning Documentary on Egyptian Revolution Available on Netflix

I am not cool enough to hang out at Sundance every year, but I am cool enough to have friends who do, and one of them tell me that there was a lot of “buzz” last year about “The Square.” I kept hearing about it, but was unable to attend any screenings.

As of Friday, Jan. 17, the film is now available streaming on Netflix.

The Square is an Egyptian-American documentary film by Jehane Noujaim (who directed Control Room). It won the Audience Award for World Cinema in the documentary category and has been nominated for an academy award.

The film was released in 2013 after two years of filming ifirst the street protests against Mubarak, then the protests against the interim government. When people returned to the streets to protest against the government of President Morsi, Noujaim returned to Cairo to take additional footage and change the ending of the film.

What arises is an amazing and poignant tale of struggle, as each successive government continues to attempt to use the same tools of oppression, and protesters return again and again, to demand a more socially just government.