In 2017, Swedish-Egyptian filmmaker Tarik Saleh came up with The Nile Hilton Incident, which won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival but was banned in Egypt for its portrayal of corruption in the country’s police in the months leading up to the 2011 Revolution. His 2022 film Boy from Heaven portrayed the power struggles in the country’s religious establishment and its unholy alliance with the state. It won him the best screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Saleh ruffles the feathers of Egypt’s political establishment yet again with the third thriller, and the final instalment of his Cairo trilogy, Eagles of the Republic, which premiered in the competition lineup of the Cannes Film Festival in May and also played recently at Toronto and Busan. The Egyptian-Arabic language, Sweden-France-Denmark-Finland-Germany co-production has been selected as the Swedish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars 2026.
After the police and church, Saleh casts a fictional look at the state’s abuse of power when it comes to the film industry and, in the process, critiques and brings down the political class, military dictatorship, and megalomaniac leadership. George Fahmy (Fares Fares), the country’s leading film star, is forced to work in a propaganda film, a biopic celebrating President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (the one real name in a sea of fictional characters). The process of shooting the film takes him deep into the corridors of power, close to the many secret machinations and all-pervasive espionage, co-option, corruption, and crime, and even an affair with Suzanne (Zineb Triki), the wife of the general heading the production. Keeping a watchful eye on him all the way is the official in charge, Dr Mansour (Amr Waked). The underproduction biopic exposes him to dangers he wouldn’t have ever imagined he’d have to confront in life, as the twists and turns of the plot lead him (and the audience) on to a major conspiracy.
Saleh adds doses of human drama to the thriller as Fahmy struggles with the conflict between what he truly believes in and what he is forced to do. “I will not work for the regime. Art is sacred to me,” he might say initially, but he has to compromise as opposed to his personal integrity. The fame that should ideally make him powerful leaves him vulnerable. The film rings a universal bell when it comes to exploring this intersection between authoritarianism and forced co-option and exploitation of pop culture in politics.
Saleh builds the world authentically with the production designer Roger Rosenberg, art director Sila Karakaya, and cinematographer Pierre Aim lending a great helping hand. There are some standout sequences like the pivotal military parade leading on to assassination. Another one, of the masses greeting El-Sisi at the railway station, has a sprawling, epic element to it. The film is also a celebration of Egyptian cinema with the studios, star system, ideas of freedom of expression, and censorship, paralleling our own industry concerns. The references to certain films and filmmakers, Beau Travail, Claire Denis, are also great fun.
However, the many subplots, about affairs and murders, can get distracting, slacken the narrative, and turn the screenplay a tad messy. The writing could have been done with another revision and some tightening. Eagles of the Republic is a sturdy and enjoyable mainstream thriller. It might sport the right ideology at heart, but one that doesn’t cut deep enough. It skims the surface when it comes to the problematic equation between cinema and the political establishment. Stylish indeed, but leaves one asking for more substance.
The big reason for the film’s appeal, however, is a solid ensemble, especially the ace performance from Fares Fares. With a combination of swag and sincerity, fun and flair, he makes his Fahmy an enigmatic and attractive matinee idol (at times seeming like a throwback to the charismatic Egyptian icon Omar Sharif) and wins the audience's empathy as he tries to fight the very system and the regime that he must serve.