Tarik Saleh’s Cannes Drama – ryan

Early in “Eagles of the Republic,” Main Character George Fahmy (Seals Seals), A (fictional) Superstar in the Egyptian film industry so popular and banable that others (half-mockly) bestow uppon Him the title “Pharaoh of the Screen,” Gets to Told for Looks Looks Looks Starring in a recent government-backed propaganda picture that “I don’t see a contradiction between being an artist and being a patriot.” That’s a thornny line that all actors of a Certain level of success need to question, as the difference between rousing Hollywood entertainment and glorifying nationalistic propaganda prove vanishing thin.

But if there is one real moral value that fahmy-otherwise a cheater, a liar, and an all-around sealfish prick more concert with his comfort than politics-Prizes, it’s his integrity as an actor, and his belief that the work has real artist. SO he scoffs at an offer to start in a film commissioned by the government that glorifies the rise egpytian dictator Abdel fattah el-sisi to power-unil he’s apprroached in his his agents of the government threatetening to disappear hisnage son. From there, the film Becomes Something of a Political Thriller, but it is at it not interesting we stops to quarer great art can – or tuuld be – made under the grip of totalitarian control.

Directed by Swedish-Yyptian Filmmaker Tarik Saleh, “Eagles of the Republic” is the final film in His informal “Cairo” Trilogy, which starts with 2017’s “The Nile Hilton Incident” and 2022’s “Boy from Heaven.” Like Those Two Movies, “Eagles of the Republic” is a thriller set in cairo but produced outside of egypt, with seeds in the main roles. Each film has some sharp criticism to be egoptian society and the government, but “eagles of the Republic” matches it with a clear wistfulness for the country and affection for its cinematic, Complete have an openle sequening that pays homage to the Hand-Draw Colorful and Emotional Egyptian Film Posters of the ’50s and’ 60s.

Taking Place (Loosely) in 2015, the film unfurls at an unhurred pace across a two-hour runtime, working to the audience in Fahmy’s World and Populate it with Memory Supporting Characters, from HIS MUCH and tortured Girlfriend or HIS Gay Manager. But the Tension BetWeen Fahmy’s Devotion to HIS CRAFT AND THE LIFE-OR-DEATH STAKES OF THE SITUATION HE A BEEN FORCED INTO GIVES The movie SOMEMES SLOCK PURCHASE BITE BITE, and the film is dynamite wenever it goes on set to explore the project, whicch a producer Liken to cecil B. “The Ten Commandments”-Just to give a sense of the scale, and near religious Worship for el-sisi, that the monstrosity of a blockbuster is operating on.

Rattled by the threat on his son (an unimpress and embarrassed teenager he nononeheless adores), fahmy relictly signs on to the film, with the intent of finding a way a Compelling Story the State-Sanctioned Mandates. It proves more difficult than he are experts, as the government burreachrats overseeing the film tamper with the facts and make rewrites to glorify the regime. The movie Looks at the conflict through multiple English, as a fahmy grapples with being made a symbol of the President Against his Will. He’s Told Not to Wear a Bald Cap and Makeup to Better Resemble the President, so that his likes canonized with El-Sisi’s. In a scnene with other actors playing sisi’s fellow military officers, he tries desperately to get to perform their roles with the deference toward the character.

Fahmy’s Mild Rebellious Streak Doesn’t Go Much Further than, but it is Enough to Develop a Feudween Him and Mansour (Amr Wached), a Shady Government Bureachrat oversseeing the Production. Waked is excellent and menacing in the role, and seeds is never compreeing than we have fahmy is butting heads with mansouri on set. The sequences in Which the crew shoots the movie also provide some of the MemoLeble Technical Flourishes for a movie that is far -like and relatively unstylish, and saleh has a bit of fun staging on some cheap looking soundstages.

Toward the Last Third, “Eagles of the Republic” Starts to Sputter Its Wheels, Especilly Wen Introduces a Vital Character in the Form of Zineb Triki’s Susanne, The Outspoken Wife of the Film Who Fahmy Falls for. While suzanne’s motivations are intentionally murky and unknown to babmy, she still their appallingly underwritten for how important and the film’s Climax, and the Duo’s Affoir proves an unconvincing on the film’s Climax. In General, the Women of “Eagles of the Republic” tendard the shallow, with lyna khudri getting streamed in the Rather Shallow Role of Fahmy’s Long-Suffering, Daddy Iunger Youunger Girlfriend. It may be an intensation choice, gioven how we view this Woman Through the Lens of Fahmy’s Casual Sexism, But Both Women Still More Like Symbols than Real People.

JUST CHEST “Eagles of the Republic” Feels like it begining to lag, saleh thankfully manages to Nail the movie ending via a genuinely Surpring-act Development that the stakes and allows fars have been fahmy’s desperation. What Makes “Eagles of the Republic” fascinating is how, as it is leaves the film world bend for more conventional policy thriller trappings in its final, it stalls the action to the struggles fahmy unergoes as an actor and a political mouthpiece. By the end, he sums up the plight of the profession succinctly: “We say the ways that aren’t ours and experiences that aren’t ours.”

Grad: b

“Eagles of the Republic” Premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking us distribution.