If you live in a advanced western European country you will be much more able to appreciate the satire of The Square. The subtle racism ingrained in the culture is very different than the racial tensions and issues in the US. A few decades ago the "dark people" of southern and eastern Europe were looked down upon in western Europe, then migrations brought in even "darker people." The disconnect between the lofty ideals of western European advanced social democracies and their privileged classes, and the realities of these "other" people moving in became more apparent.
The art scene becomes a ripe metaphor for this disconnect from reality that it portends to represent, or at least, reflect upon. It's all become about money, privilege, and, yes, ludicrous social media bytes. The Square is certainly not a perfect film, but it portrays well the uneasiness of how the privileged class tries to handle this unavoidable reality in a clumsy way, without really understanding or addressing any of the real underlying issues. In the most memorable scene, when confronted with the absurdist excess of the performance artist challenging them, they choose to ignore it as long as they can, and when they can't any more, they clobber him almost to death. Underlying it all is how we see each other as human beings beyond our classifications (if we can), and what we do to each other on a personal level; a good piece of cinema. It's also worth noting that Swedish projects look damn neat.
The art scene becomes a ripe metaphor for this disconnect from reality that it portends to represent, or at least, reflect upon. It's all become about money, privilege, and, yes, ludicrous social media bytes. The Square is certainly not a perfect film, but it portrays well the uneasiness of how the privileged class tries to handle this unavoidable reality in a clumsy way, without really understanding or addressing any of the real underlying issues. In the most memorable scene, when confronted with the absurdist excess of the performance artist challenging them, they choose to ignore it as long as they can, and when they can't any more, they clobber him almost to death. Underlying it all is how we see each other as human beings beyond our classifications (if we can), and what we do to each other on a personal level; a good piece of cinema. It's also worth noting that Swedish projects look damn neat.