The Trials of Spring

The Arab Spring, which was greeted in 2011 with such enthusiasm and hope, has turned sour in many areas of the Middle East and Africa. The Trials of Spring concentrates on how the widespread revolution affected the lives of women, particularly those who took activist roles in their countries. Gini Reticker's feature-length documentary looks at Egypt's revolution and counter-revolution, presenting the unfolding events from the first demonstrations against Hosni Mubarek up through the tenure of President Mohamed Morsi and his removal by General (and now President) Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Along the way, Reticker inserts excerpts of interviews with several women who participated in the movement for change and now recount how they subsequently suffered as the situation changed. Particular emphasis is placed on the horrifying story of Hend Nafea, a young woman who was imprisoned at home by her family, tortured by police, and eventually sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court after fleeing the country. A second disc broadens the coverage with six short films, one repeating Nafea's story in abbreviated form while the remaining five are devoted to women in other countries—Tunisia, Bahrain, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Only in Tunisia—the place where the Arab Spring was born late in 2010—is the news at all positive. In each of the other locales, the profiled female activists suffer not only disappointment but also humiliation, and even assassination in the case of Salwa Bugaighis—a brave woman reporter from Benghazi who refused to leave Libya even as the situation in the country descended into chaos. The Trials of Spring serves up a series of incredible profiles in courage, even though most of the portraits are of hope that is brutally dashed. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)