Nasser's Republic: The Making of Modern Egypt

MICHAL GOLDMAN 
USA, 2016 
83 minutes, Color and Black & White 
Official website

In Person: Director Michal Goldman

"I thought we had buried him," says a contemporary Egyptian historian of Gamal Abdel Nasser. "It turns out he's still alive." The Arab Spring and its aftermath showed just how complicated is the legacy of Egypt's iconic second president (1956 to 1970) who championed Arab progress, African liberation, and resistance to Western colonialism. But what Nasser did not offer was democracy. Instead, he installed the region's first military authoritarian regime. The ongoing dilemma of U.S. policy in the Middle East, the region's major tensions, the struggles between Islamists and Arab states, all trace back to Nasser's story. He may have launched a revolution, but he could not complete it. Director Michal Goldman organizes a vast amount of information to pose as many questions as answers in this immersive documentary. Narration by Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass rivets us to history and its contradictions, a story witnessed by millions.—Judy Bloch

In English and Arabic with English subtitles