Review: Eagles of the Republic
- CANNES 2025: Tarik Saleh rounds off his Cairo trilogy with a delectable film noir about lies and truths, thrusting a big-screen star faced with some difficult decisions into a minefield
"This business is beyond you", "How did we end up here?" Following in the footsteps of his captivating movies The Nile Hilton Incident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile] (2017) and Boy From Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile] (2022), Tarik Saleh is continuing to forge ahead with high-calibre film noir offerings in the form of the fascinating Eagles of the Republic [+see also:
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile], which was unveiled in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. Revisiting the classics, with an ambivalent hero patrolling the city in his old convertible Jaguar, a femme fatale, circles of military power priding themselves on their cultural propaganda, an omniscient puppet-master "consigliere", crossings into danger zones, an air of conspiracy and betrayal, and a Faustian pact made under duress, the Swedish filmmaker of Egyptian origin successfully pulls off his attempt to reproduce this particular film genre in the land of the Pharaohs, which wins audiences over with its simplicity.
"My advice is to be very careful when you’re talking about the president." Star actor George Fahmy (a perfect Fares Fares) finds himself in a fine mess while filming La volonté du peuple, because he isn’t overjoyed to have eventually accepted to play the part of Egypt’s leading statesman, Field Marshal el-Sisi. A living legend of national cinema, a drinker and a serial womaniser who’s separated from his wife and is now living with a woman (Lyna Khoudri) young enough to be his daughter, George believed himself to be untouchable on account of his immense popularity. Working for the regime? He wasn’t at all keen, despite his agent’s advice ("they’re not the kind of people you say no to"). But he soon changes his mind after a few well-worded threats of a professional and private kind.
George doesn’t know it yet, but he no longer holds the keys to his own destiny, and his powerlessness only increases as the situation grows in complexity. Failing to understand all the ins and the outs, he obliviously persists with his Casanova manoeuvrings, this time with the wife of the Minister of War (Zineb Triki). But, this time round, under the watchful eye of Doctor Mansour (Amr Waked), for all his wonderful acting ("words are the clothes of our emotions") our big-screen adventurer finds himself delivering “words and feelings which are by no means his own”, but which belong to a very real world, whose inhabitants wear uniforms both in front of and behind the cameras and who are working to create a legendary image of themselves in the collective imaginary, whilst also fomenting plots behind the scenes…
"Relax. It’s just us. We’re the shield of this country, the Eagles of the Republic. Ask us whatever you like." With this third, velvet paw chapter of his Cairo trilogy (boasting the talented Pierre Aïm heading up photography and Alexandre Desplat on music), Tarik Saleh addresses a wolf-like grin to the audience, inviting them not to ask too many questions but to allow themselves to be whisked away by a wonderfully controlled and colourful story which is full of twists and suspense, and which also dispenses a history lesson or two, here and there, while following the trajectory of an individual who’s no stranger to masks but who’s caught in the regime’s trap.
Eagles of the Republic was produced by Swedish firm Unlimited Stories and French outfit Memento Production together with Apparaten (Sweden), Ström Pictures (Denmark) and Arte France Cinéma. Playtime are steering world sales.
(Translated from French)
Photogallery 19/05/2025: Cannes 2025 - Eagles of the Republic
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© 2025 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it
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