Ultimately, the film\u2019s central question\u201d\u201dwho are the heroes of the revolution?\u201d\u201dscarcely seems to matter. Its answer\u201d\u201dthe liberal democracy activists\u201d\u201dseems dubious. And was it even a revolution? Today some activists are in jail or back on the street, protesting against the new regime. Others have joined a large majority of Egyptians to cheer for the army as it withholds many of the freedoms the activists fought and died for.<\/p>\n
Peter Hessler, a winner of the Macarthur \u201cGenius\u201d\u009d grant who reports for the New Yorker from Cairo, heard a common refrain around the city on the day of the referendum on the army\u2019s constitution: \u201cThe country needs to move forward.\u201d\u009d There were very few \u201cno\u201d\u009d votes that day. On Twitter, journalists joked that a citizen willing to admit he or she voted \u201cno\u201d\u009d couldn\u2019t be found anywhere. Very few Egyptians seem to be willing to jeopardize stability and security to experiment with the Western-style values of democracy and accountability preached by the activists.<\/p>\n