The film, which was in Competition in Cannes last year, is being distributed by Curzon and will be in cinemas in the UK and Ireland starting May 22.
At first glance, Tarik Saleh’s final installment of his ‘Cairo Trilogy’ appears to be an absurdist tale of an actor called to do his civic duty. Even if that civic duty entails having to portray the country’s tyrannical president in a film about his life. But Eagles of the Republic soon turns into something else, a kind of dream scenario for anyone who dislikes the current Egyptian regime and wishes to see it go through some “troubles”.
Turns out Saleh is exactly one of those people, having made his views veiled but obvious throughout his oeuvre. Even though at first glance his 2017 film The Nile Hilton Incident and his 2022 Cannes title Cairo Conspiracy, later named Boy from Heaven may not appear political, they are deeply so. You just have to know where to look.
In Eagles of the Republic, once again aided by his beloved star Fares Fares, Saleh goes one step further. He makes his views come out from behind the veil of innuendoes and brings politics center stage. The result is a fantastical, at times absurd but wholly fun film that kept me entertained for its two hours plus running time.
When we first meet George Fahmy (Fares, in top form!) he’s a working actor, in popular Egyptian cinema. His usual screen leading lady is Rula Haddad (played by filmmaker Cherien Dabis) also a friend, and while married, George lives and plays with Donya, his much younger actress girlfriend played by Lyna Khoudri. He’s a Coptic Christian and therefore divorce is not something in the cards. And Donya is a number and a half, all demands and dreams of making it big in the movies and socially.
One day, George is approached to star as Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in a biopic on the current president of Egypt and his involvement in the coup that removed Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president. Approached is an understatement, as the actor ends up having to cave into taking the role because he’s publicly threatened and his son’s safety is put at risk. When he meets the film’s “casting director” slash political supervisor he realizes he had him thrown out of a cafe just days before, because he didn’t like the way the guy was looking at him. The man’s name is Mansour, a senior presidential aide to the Sisi regime and is played by the phenomenal Amr Waked in a nearly unrecognizable role that shows off his skills to the max.
Fares Fares and Amr Waked in ‘Eagles of the Republic’, photo by © Yigit Eken
The premise so far is funny enough to make us sit back and imagine we are in for a comedy, all inside jokes of how George is not the same height as Sisi, who clocks in at a declared 170 cm but is probably more like 160 in real life. But also not the same religion. Yet faith always plays a role in the disconnect that Saleh puts in his films, and that disconnect proves the most relatable part for international audiences, who may not know Egypt’s inner workings and yet find his cinema spellbinding. So halfway through, the film does a 180 and delves into deeper themes, complete with murder disguised as a suicide and abuse of power.
Through a series of developments, we are left to imagine that the man who masterminded the removal of Morsi may also be the victim of a coup. How Sisi comes out of this sequence, complete with guns, explosions and helicopters, you’ll have to decide for yourself — I know my answer. But what is clear and what Saleh proves wholeheartedly in Eagles of the Republic, is how great a helmer he is, and what a colorful view of his heritage he possesses, even though he was born and lives in Sweden. Sometimes, even if you can’t go home again, that home lives within you in much grander scale than for anyone who has always called it home.
As a personal aside, Palestinian Jordanian Swedish producer Linda Mutawi is on the project as a producer, after having donned the associate producer’s credit on Saleh’s past projects. With her Swedish company Fikra she was named one of this year’s “Producers on the Move” in Cannes and, as a regular at some of the industry events I also attend, I’m happy to see her career continue to blossom.
To watch Eagles of the Republic and find out more, check out the Curzon website.
All images courtesy of Curzon, used with permission.