“Eagles of the Republic” is a political film from the Cairo Group that one can start in the following category: Films about life under tyranny that you feel different-at least for the Americans-what would have been obtained six months ago. That is because they are closer to the house now. It may seem outside the wall to describe the “Eagles of the Republic” as an “entertaining” epic of repression, but the central character is a fictional Egyptian cinematic star, and for this the first hour or so, the film is alive and laughing, as it calls us to reveal the privileges and vanity of gossip in its diluted existence.
George Fahmy (Fares Fares) is a veteran actor, known as “Pharoah of the Screen”, who carries himself like legend. It is tall, dark, sparkling eyes and a definition of sincerity; It is like Liam Neeson, with a hint of Harry Dean Stanton’s grief. He is the number one box office star in Egypt, who behaves in everything from drama to place to films with titles such as “The First Egyptian in Space”. He will throw his weight about the argument with the country’s Muslim supervision council (which has never met a movie they could not try to oppose), and his own life is a series of scandalous concession. He occupies a luxurious apartment and has a mistress, Donia (Lin Khodri), who is half his life and appears to be a fashion model. (She is an ambitious actress.)
George takes what he wants, but there is a sad pledge that is not difficult to see. Hide under the baseball hat and sunglasses, takes secret trips to the pharmacy to buy Viagra. He was separated from his wife (Donna Masoud) and has a loving, but increasingly embarrassing relationship with his son, Rami (Sud Nashwan), who is attending the American University in Cairo. (When the two eat drinks and Rami, he brings her along the girl whose history dates back, he must make sure that his father does not hit her) and then, while he was wandering in life on his cloud, receiving a call asking him to play his role in a movie commissioned by the Egyptian government.
This will be a biography about the country’s president, Abd al -Fahia al -Sisi, who arrived in power in 2014 after organizing a military coup. And that is when Mohamed Morsi, who in 2012, became the first democratic elected leader in Egypt. (Morsi’s rise was paid by the protest movements in the Arab Spring.) Sisi, who is still in power, has become a school book, heading a military dictatorship. “Eagles of the Republic” is the story of life under this system. We see that innocent people are arrested to publish a “betrayal” thinking on Facebook, and the characters always indicate “they” who hover over everything – they In the sense of order. You should not mess with them.
Tarik Saleh, the film’s writer, is of Swedish and Egyptian origin based in Sweden, which is why he was able to make “Republic Eagles” as an open accuracy of life under Sisi. This is the final film in “Cairo Triple” in Saleh, after the movie “The Nile Hilton Eduction” (2017) and the corruption drama at the Islamic School “CAIRO CONSPLACY” (2022), and for a period of time it is a story of absorption.
When George knows that he is asked to play the starring role in propaganda from the state, a movie that will be called “The Will of the People”. He is not a fan of Egypt’s dictatorship – and besides that, he says, how can the star of his outlook and the status of Sisi, who is short and bald? But the fact that he was raising these objections, in a usual high maintenance method, indicating that he was a little naive. The Sisi regime is not so Ask George is a championship in this movie. He tells him. While he was reluctantly sitting to this task, and entering the costume of the khaki military that was placed in medals, we are sure that we will see an example of what happens when Hubris is the star of the cinema in the tanna of authoritarian nomination.
For a while, this is what it is. There is a man on the group called Dr. Mansor, played by Omar Waked (who looks like Dennis Varina the most calm), and he is the official who is there to ensure that everything will be issued in a way that was approved on SISI. Early tells George, “You give a bad performance,” and this is not because it suddenly turned into a critic of the drama. George’s age for Sisi’s height to power is very exaggerated, and very cartoon fees – because George’s way of not giving himself completely to the role. It is his way of resistance.
George is then invited to have an official dinner at the home of the Defense Minister (Tamim Heikal). There is a group of the highest rule there, who refer to themselves in the name of “Eagles of the Republic”-that is, they exist to wipe and protect the nation. But they really protect Sisi and his corrupt rule. By this point, George discovered that he needs to play the game, and knows how to do this. But when he meets the wife of the hot minister, Susan, educated in the Sorbonne, west (Zainab Terke), the risk bell explodes. He soon faces an affair with her, which is very stupid. We believe that we know, in our intestine, where the movie is heading.
But we do not. George is asked to give a letter as another evidence of his loyalty, and he agrees. The speech occurs directly in front of Sisi, in a military procession to celebrate the soldiers who died fighting Israel in the war of your day Kibor (also known as Ramadan). George gives the speech. This is when something happens. Violence spasm. There was a conspiracy against Sisi, in the form of a half baked military coup, and George is closely right. I used … somehow.
“Somehow” is what we want to know. But this is the place where the movie is separated, to be amazed. Everything that happens after the coup attempt is inclined, confusing, distorted, trick. What happened to the film industry in favor? Before this moment, it was accurate. Did he leave a group of scenes on the floor of the cut room? During the second half of the film, we can collect what is happening (somewhat), but not in a logical way, or at all satisfactory. However, the film was working on such a vital and appropriate topic: the dangers of trying to put a system of harsh strength. “Eagles of the Republic” loses the thread of its story, but more disappointing, it leaves these risks hanging.