The Square Film Analysis

Throughout history, there have been a series of oppressive figures in control, these political figures still have power in modern times, mostly in the Middle East. The movie The Square, a documentary taking place in 2011 about Egypt’s fight for a democracy, is a good example of how history tends to repeat itself and why it is important that we learn about history from other places around the world so this repetition can be avoided. Religion is always a major part in the repetitive conflicts, and can be used to explain almost every single major revolution in history. Without having the past mistakes and triumphs of historical people and events, history would be doomed to repeat itself, and humanity would be unable to move forward from repetitive …show more content…
It is believed by many people that if their religion was in power that the government will run more smoothly. When one one islamic man was asked about why he supported the Muslim Brotherhood’s right to power, he said “We don’t argue because we see our leaders (Muslim Brotherhood) as better judges” (Magdy). This is not the case however because when you mix religion and politics, leaders get corrupt and the people under the government get resentful of their leaders. In early Christianity, the Catholic Church controlled everything that people said and did. they got away with it because people thought that it was their only chance at Heaven. Some people saw that the church was corrupt and wanted to do something about it. In The Square after the first leader had been kicked out of office, the Muslim Brotherhood decided that they wanted to take a chance at becoming leaders so they joined the protests in the square to gain the people’s trust. Unfortunately, shortly after they gained power over Egypt, they became like the leaders who were the original cause of the protest. One protester pointed out that “the more they (the Muslim Brotherhood) control the more people will hate them” (The Square). Unfortunately as people come to power no matter what their religion is, they will become corrupt and create a bad name for …show more content…
The entire American political system was founded on the ideas and published works from THe Enlightenment. The core beliefs of The Enlightenment were that, all people should have certain undeniable rights awarded to them no matter what, and that when only one person or group of people is in power it leads to corruption and loss of the undeniable rights. At the beginning of the protests, after the president had stepped down, the military regime took temporary control of the government. The protesters were still unsatisfied with the outcome so they decided to continue to protest but “people were falling one by one. Just because they were saying ‘down with the regime’” (The Square). This is the same military regime that promised to “sacrifice their last drop of blood before firing a bullet on the people.” (The Square). By threatening people for having a peaceful protest, they are stripping the protesters and everyone else of their freedom of speech, a freedom Voltaire, one of the Enlightenment thinkers believed in he said “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” (Voltaire). This is the kind of commitment that you should be able to expect from a military that claims to be fighting for the people. Instead, the people are being shot and killed for having a peaceful protest defending their God-given