Jesse Lerner's latest radical documentary continues his fracturing of the form as he explores the role of the United States in the Yucatán peninsula. Home of the first socialist government of the Americas, between 1915 and 1924, under the governorship of Salvador Alvarado, it was also the site of Mexico's first feminist congress, held in 1916. Lerner brings together remarkable archival footage and period commentaries, as well as early trick films and recreations of Yucatán's lost first feature film, to explore an early example of globalization. An all-too-familiar scenario-U.S. economic exploitation and the use of the military to protect its interests-is played out in relation to the Yucatán crop of sisal hemp, source of twine for American farmers. Complex and challenging, The American Egypt wonderfully links the liberating power of early cinema with that of a little-explored history of the Americas.