The award winning documentary, “Egypt: The Story Behind The Revolution” was shown Nov. 13 at Lumina Theater. Director Khaled Sayed attended and spoke to the audience after the documentary screening.

 

“Egypt: The Story Behind The Revolution” documents the mistakes made by President Mubarak, how his corrupt government came to be and how it stayed in power for 30 years. However, its main focus was on the revolution that unintentionally removed Mubarak from power.

 

The Egyptian revolution took the news by storm in late January 2011. Citizens were tired of the corrupt government controlled by President Mubarak and his police force. The revolution was sparked by a Facebook page and a twitter account that posted statements criticizing Mubarak’s regime. Sayed’s documentary has interviews with Egyptian citizens of all walks of life, ranging from doctors to high school teachers, discussing their views of Mubarak and the revolution.

 

News footage of people protesting in the streets and fighting off tear gas attacks from police is a constant visual throughout the film. One scene depicts Cairo covered in fog; at least that is what the overwhelming amount of tear gas made the city look like. The images of Egyptian citizens shrouded in tears gas, still swinging sticks at police, are inspiring for anyone who feels the need to fight back. 

 

Mubarak also allowed police to release and arm prisoners who then roamed throughout the streets fighting with citizens. The police wanted the citizens to appreciate them, and watched as civilians were attacked. This violence went on for days. 

 

Sayed also commented on Mubarak’s terror techniques for trying to control the protesting mob. Sayed hoped to induce fear by having his F-16 fighter jets fly over the crowd, giving them the impression they were about to be bombed. Despite Mubarak’s attempts to shake them, the protestors stood their ground, focused on the mission at hand. This mission wasn’t to remove Mubarak, but to have him change some of his policies and the country. 

 

This ultimately led Mubarak to make the decision to step down. The “Facebook Revolution” attained results in 18 days. However, documentary director Sayed reminds us that it isn’t over. He spoke of Egypt as it is now, post-revolution. Things are not good; political parties are threatening to be extremists. The country is still in disarray. But at least there is hope. Sayed has a new documentary coming out soon about this post-revolutionary Egypt. The documentary which will focus on current problems and what must be done to solve them.

 

“Egypt: The Story Behind the Revolution” is a compelling documentary that shows how a revolution is attained in the modern day. With the use of Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word about a cause, it is apparent the day and age of word-of-mouth communication is long gone.

 

“Egypt: The Story Behind the Revolution” has received multiple awards, including the Visionary Director award at the Awareness Film Festival. It won awards at the Film Festival for Peace, Inspiration and Equality as well as the Global Wake Up Film Festival in 2011. Trailers for the documentary can be viewed at behindtherevolution.com.