After he’s forced to star in a propaganda film, a famous Egyptian actor is drawn into a shadowy world full of dangers in Tarik Saleh’s bold, stylish political thriller.
The character at the centre of Tarik Saleh’s engrossing sixth feature, actor George Fahmy, is a man who’s clearly accustomed to the benefits of fame. As played with great skill and all due charisma by Fares Fares, George moves through the world with the unshakable belief that he occupies the starring role in whatever room he happens to enter.
But the gripping events that unfold in Eagles of the Republic teach George a hard lesson about who really controls the levers. The first blow to his confidence comes with the offer to perform in a new movie celebrating the regime, an offer the vain actor realizes he’s in no position to refuse.
Under the watchful eye of Dr. Mansour (Amr Waked), a secretive government official, George faces the challenge of delivering the goods in this unusually high-stakes production while navigating new relationships with other powerful figures. While tensions in George’s personal and family lives bode more trouble, he takes a far greater risk when he grows closer to Suzanne (Zineb Triki), the alluring wife of the General in charge of the film.
Demonstrating the same ruthlessly sharp eye for Cairo’s power dynamics that distinguished the previous instalments in the director’s award-winning trilogy of films set in the city — The Nile Hilton Incident (2017), and Cairo Conspiracy (2022) — Saleh draws in viewers with tantalizing images of wealth, glamour, and privilege before revealing the more brutal reality existing behind the facade.
JASON ANDERSON
Content advisory: coarse language, sexual innuendo, frightening scenes, violence
Screenings
Scotiabank 10
Scotiabank 1
Scotiabank 4
Scotiabank 11