Eagles of the Republic
Tarik Saleh’s scathing view of life in Egypt under President Sisi is both satirical and tensely dramatic.
Image courtesy of Curzon Film Distributors.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
Considering how few films centred on Egypt gain a release in the UK it is something of a triumph for Tarik Saleh that the arrival here of Eagles of the Republic means that all three of the works that comprise his Cairo trilogy have reached our screens. This work's predecessors were The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and Cairo Conspiracy (2022) and Fares Fares is a leading actor in all three. Nevertheless, each of the three stands on its own and no characters reappear. In point of fact Saleh is Swedish-Egyptian (his father was Egyptian) but he is based in Sweden and Eagles of the Republic is a co-production between five countries, Sweden among them. Consequently, these films commenting on the state of things in Egypt count as the view of somebody far enough away to be able to handle critical subject matter of this kind yet not really a person who should be thought of as an outsider.
Eagles of the Republic has an unusual character being a film which starts off as a satire but then turns into a thriller. There is in fact plenty of room for both since it runs for 129 minutes. One of its best features is the sheer look of the piece for this is a film shot in wide screen and colour and made with great confidence on Saleh's part backed up by the impressive photography of Pierre Aïm. We are quickly drawn in and indeed there are even satirical posters behind the credits which relate to the movies made by the film’s central character, George Fahmy (that’s the role taken by Fares Fares). He is a popular but now aging movie actor who is separated from his wife, Marianne (Donia Massoud), and has an eye for women, especially younger ones like his mistress, Donya (Lyna Khoudri).
It's a set up that brings to mind 2025’s Jay Kelly and the early scenes soon introduce us to on-set life and those involved with George's career such as his agent Fawzy (Ahmed Khairy). But in this context there is one very different figure always present during shooting. That is Dr Mansour (Amr Waked) who is there to see that nothing being filmed will displease the authorities. This is particularly relevant now in that George's latest role is that of President Sisi in a tale about his earlier life which is being heroically slanted. That Sisi is small and bald while George is not is one misrepresentation that will not worry Dr Mansour. But he is concerned when George proves reluctant to play a scene so as to suggest sincerity when in reality the president had at that moment been feigning it.
It is, of course, the political pressure of various kinds which as it builds up causes the thriller element to overtake the satire (the latter certainly present when George has recourse to buying Viagra in a pharmacy and is embarrassed to be recognised by the chemist). Relatively early on George learns that one of his co-stars (Cherien Dabis) is worried about being interviewed by the authorities and later on she is blacklisted. He seeks to take up her case and that of a neighbour’s son who had been arrested but on approaching General Hegazy (Hesham Abdel Hamid) in this connection George soon finds that these are dangerous waters to be in. So too in a different way is the fact that George starts an affair with Suzanne (Zineb Triki) which might be discovered by her husband, the Minister of Defence (Tamim Heikal). Before long George is being brought into line by threats to his son (Suhaib Nashwan) who is at university and then he finds himself becoming an innocent pawn in a bigger game. He is asked to give a speech at a special military parade where unknown to him there will be an attempt to assassinate President Sisi. That incident with its echo of Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much together with the devastating consequences that follow convert the film into a political drama.
The large cast all acquit themselves well and the film holds its length capably. Nevertheless, the last third reflects all too well the extent to which George is out of his depth and has little idea of what is going on. It could be argued that the complexity of the plot here is deliberate and the fact that it is so unclear as to who can be trusted and who not is partly a way of putting the audience in George's shoes as someone totally confused as to who was really behind the assassination plot. My own feeling is that Eagles of the Republic is in its later stages the kind of entertaining drama which, if it is to satisfy fully, requires a greater degree of clarification instead of the sense of confusion and uncertainty which we get in the concluding section here. Even so, Eagles of the Republic is the most impressive of Saleh's Cairo trilogy and if it eventually raises questions when one wants it to supply answers that may be in keeping with the statement in the end credits that any resemblance to real people is coincidental!
Cast: Fares Fares, Zineb Triki, Lyna Khoudri, Amr Waked, Cherien Dabis, Sherwan Haji, Hesham Abdel Hamid, Ahmed Khairy, Suhaib Nashwan, Tamim Heikal, Mariam Elsayed, Kemal Mustafa, Donia Massoud.
Dir Tarik Saleh, Pro Johan Lindström, Linus Stöhr Torell, Linda Mutawi and Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Screenplay Tarik Saleh, Ph Pierre Aïm, Pro Des Roger Rosenberg, Ed Theis Schmidt, Music Alexandre Desplat, Costumes Virginie Montel.
Unlimited Stories/Memento Production/Ström Pictures/Apparaten/Arte France Cinéma/Film i Väst- Curzon Film Distributors.
129 mins. Sweden/France/Denmark/Finland/Germany. 2025. US Rel: 17 April 2026. UK Rel: 22 May 2026. Cert. 15.
