Dir: Tarik Saleh | Thriller | 2025 | Sweden/France/Denmark/Finland/Germany
Reviewed by Peter Herbert
This is a bold choice of film to distribute by the adventurous distribution chain Curzon. Eagles of the Republic is the third addition to Tarik Saleh’s collection of films exploring moral, political and cultural dilemmas as viewed through the effects of autocratic rule and military power.
This is far removed from the safety net of traditional heritage cinema, and Curzon should be commended for recognising the sterling work of filmmakers largely living in exile. Although My Favourite Cake (Iran) and The President’s Cake (Iraq) were made in their countries of origin, Eagles of the Republic, along with Ukrainian director Serhii Loznytsia’s Two Prosecutors, was made by exiled casts and crews in alternative locations, allowing elements of filmmaking that would be impossible in their homelands.
This thriller looks directly into the heart of how autocratic power can corrupt and erode the ethics of creative free thought. This is achieved through a remarkable central performance by Saleh regular Fares Fares, who plays movie matinee idol George Fahmy with a charisma not unlike that of Omar Sharif in his pre-Hollywood days.
Fahmy is also a tragically beautiful figure. Shrouded by fame as a superstar, he can now clearly be revealed as a narcissist who has always absorbed whatever glory and glamour comes his way. Unfortunately, the ruling power in Egypt, as depicted in the film, has become a military junta. Fahmy is gradually pressured and seduced into creating a far more flattering cinematic myth of Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his rise to power in 2014.
Saleh observes how manipulative political ideology can sway even the most noble of people and astutely watches as Fahmy becomes the victim of his own shallow mirror image. With the film’s perspective sustained through the eyes of its central character, the structure is strengthened by a gallery of supporting players. These include his long-term wife, an alienated teenage son, a young aspiring actress who is also his mistress, and a successful actress fallen on hard times. Other figures include a mysterious man monitoring the ideological purity of the film’s production and a gay set designer offering sex in exchange for work. There are glimmers here of Fahmy’s kindness and humanity, but they feel more like sad reflections from within a once golden eye.
Saleh has created a slyly satirical style of filmmaking, echoing the plush costumes and lavish set designs of notorious film follies such as Terence Young’s uncredited direction of Oliver Reed in Al-Ayyam al-Tawila (1980), in which Saddam Hussein sought to reshape his image through propaganda filmmaking. Although this is a bold visual choice, the film’s ambitions are partially undermined for viewers without sufficient knowledge of Egyptian cinema and its related culture. The complex political references and broad range of characters occasionally threaten to overwhelm the film towards the end under the weight of these less-than-clear allusions.
This is a minor blemish on a rich, challenging and engrossing film that provides a potent warning about the dangers of autocratic rule creeping onto the world political stage. Eagles of the Republic proudly waves its flag for the protection of freedoms that we ignore at our peril.
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