A new documentary by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim illustrates the challenge of rebuilding a country when the social and political structures for running an economy and resolving differences have atrophied through decades of repression. The Square (2013) traces the intensity of Cairo's Tahrir Square, from the downfall of Mubarak in early 2011 through the overthrow of Morsi in mid 2013. The film makes sense of the street chaos by focusing on the daily lives of a group of "revolutionaries" from different backgrounds and religions - people who met each other and Jehane in Tahrir Square: Khalid, an actor/filmmaker; Magdy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; Amid, an activist from a working class neighborhood; Ragia, a human rights campaigner; Ramy a singer/song writer; and Aida a filmmaker. The footage is so real you almost feel you are there. Still, the film has more optimism about Egypt than the news reports.

(The trailer has been removed from the web - in the meantime here is an excerpt shown on BYOD, not yet updated for the Morsi chapter.)