He amazes us with every film. Egyptian and Swedish director – he was born in 1972 in Stockholm – Tarik Saleh amazed us so much with his political thriller “Cairo Confidential” in 2017 that we then awarded him the Étoile de Parisien for best foreign film of the year. Rebelote in 2022, with the excellent “The Cairo Conspiracy”, this time a religious thriller, which won the Screenplay Prize at Cannes.
Once again shortlisted in competition on the Croisette last May the filmmaker launched “Les Aigles de la République”, in theaters this Wednesday, in which he combines the 7th story of art, politics and love.
A feature film hosted by the director’s favorite actor, Fares Fares, who plays actor George Fahmy, the most fashionable actor in Egypt whose productions achieved tremendous popular success. The big screen stars have the air of a demigod but despite his adoration, Fahmy doesn’t make the most of his fame, dividing himself between different film projects and a stormy relationship with a young girl (played by Frenchwoman Lyna Khoudri).
Until one day when the powers that be, who held the country with an iron fist, asked the actor to play, in a propaganda film glorifying the regime, President Sissi – the same man who is currently head of state. Unable to refuse because his family is threatened, Fahmy must go through the dark twists and turns of cruel and corrupt power that is visible.
His ambivalent posture would prove more complex due to unforeseen political events, but also because he began an affair with the attractive but enigmatic wife of the general who directed the film – an attractive beauty played brilliantly by the very rare Zineb Triki, the main character in the series “The Bureau of Legends”.
Fares Fares, extraordinary actor
Phenomenal, the film – in which almost everything is taken from reality, which is unlikely to help Tarik Saleh’s relationship with his home country, where he is banned from entering – does not leave its audience spellbound with constant suspense and twists and turns. We’ll let you discover the most amazing thing that happens in the middle of the film, so unexpected and sudden that you can’t help but be amazed at the screen.
“The Eagles of the Republic” also serves as an extraordinary ode to the 7th Art, as practiced in Egypt between the 1950s and 1970s, by shifting the subject to our time, with crazy scenes of the filmmaking atmosphere or popular excitement before the cinematographic exploits of the actors and, above all, through a stunning portrait of this extraordinary actor, always between two schemes and two loves but with an irresistible charm.
Once again, Fares Fares’ performance in this role which is always on the edge is astonishing. What an actor!
“ Republican Eagle “, Swedish historical thriller by Tarik Saleh, with Fares Fares, Lyna Khoudri, Zineb Triki… 2h08.
