The Square

Directors: Zhang Yuan, Duan Jinchuan
CHINA / 1994 / B&W / 35mm / 100 min

Tiananmen Square, with so much political significance and sensitivity, will prove a formidable task for anyone to cut it down into a film. This film takes on that challenge by eschewing history and politics, and giving meticulous attention to the square’s everyday activities: a model policeman modestly relaying his heroics, tourists taking snapshots, the raising and lowering of the flag, and people flying kites and exercising.