‘Eagles Of The Republic' Review: The Terrific Fares Fares Stars In Tarik Saleh's Precision-Tooled Political Thriller
Like Mephisto, it is about a self-seeking actor whose arrogance gets him into bad company. Fares plays George Fahmy, the biggest movie star in Egypt. They call him 'The Pharaoh of the Screen,' and that adoration has been the ruin of him. Having abandoned his wife and son, he lives with his girlfriend Donya (Lyna Khoudri), a beautiful aspiring actress young enough to be his daughter. George's career is mapped out in the opening credits, a sequence made up of lurid film posters (including, we later find out, for one called The First Egyptian in Space). Somehow, George has kept Donya under the radar, but there have been rumblings about his behavior for some time, as is about to become apparent.
More from Deadline
Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews
Cannes Film Festival Photos Day 7: Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, A$AP Rock at 'Highest 2 Lowest' photocall, Dakota Johnson & More
Breaking Baz @ Cannes: Nicole Kidman, "The Barefoot Queen Of Cannes", Wanted To Party On The Beach But Had To Fly Home For Her Kids' Exams
Taking Donya on a date, George encounters a coterie of his peers, who try to involve him in the informal militia they have formed. 'We all have to protect our country,' says one. 'The enemy is everywhere.' George declines their offer but becomes concerned when his latest co-star, Rula Haddad (Cherien Dabis), comes to his house, claiming she is being forced into a TV interview where she will be pressured to dish dirt on him. Rula keeps mum, but their new film together already is in trouble with the country's hatchet-faced panel of censors, since it involves a scene in which an unmarried couple suggestively share their cigarettes. 'What's this disgrace?' says one. 'Everything you do is a sin.'
His long-suffering manager Fawzy (Ahmed Kairy) spells it out for him ('George, they are after you'), and while driving out late at night the actor is pulled over by a soldier who shows him a picture of his son and warns of the high incidence of traffic 'accidents' that happen at the American university where he is studying. Shaken, George goes straight to his ex-wife's house, where the boy is, thankfully, unscathed. 'Whose wife or daughter did you sleep with this time?' she sneers. 'Aren't you too old for that?'
RELATED: Full List Of Cannes Palme d'Or Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery
Feeling the heat, George accepts an offer to take the lead in a largely fictional and completely hagiographic biopic of (current) Egyptian President Al-Sisi. George resists at first, but it soon becomes clear that dark forces are at play, none darker than the sinister Dr. Mansour (Amr Waked), a shady government official supervising the film and effectively serving as producer. George brings in a friend to direct, asking him if he can 'turn this shit into something decent.' George Fahmy doesn't make bad films, says George, but he does make bad choices, and this one could end up being the death of him.
Saleh, and Fares, have a lot of fun with the character of George, notably in a very funny scene where the aging lothario stops off at a pharmacy to buy Viagra. The pharmacist recognizes him ('I download all your movies!') and demands a selfie, adding that Cialis is a better alternative ('It will make you harder than the Sphinx!'). After this, however, Eagles of the Republic becomes exponentially darker, as George finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the president's pocket, to the point that he even agrees to make a speech at an important military parade to commemorate the Yom Kippur War.
As in the previous films in the trilogy, there is a certain sense of inevitability to the events that follow, spiraling out of control in ways that George cannot fight, certainly not after he blithely embarks on a dangerous affair with a senior politician's wife — unaware that Dr. Mansour has him under close surveillance and that he is being manipulated by rival factions within the military. Unwittingly, George pulls everyone and everything down with him, finally facing the consequence of his actions in a harrowing helicopter ride.
Although it is of a kind with the other Cairo movies, Eagles of the Republic arguably is the strongest, possibly because there's so much rich real-world source material to draw on. It's also a brilliantly executed satire on the film industry, and a haunting reminder of what happens when you lie down with dogs.
Title: Eagles of the RepublicFestival: Cannes (Competition)Sales: Playtime GroupDirector-screenwriter: Tarik SalehCast: Fares Fares, Lyna Khoudri, Zineb, Amr Waked, Cherien Dabis, Ahmed KairyRunning time: 2 hr 9 min
Best of Deadline
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds
All The 'Mission: Impossible' Movies In Order - See Tom Cruise's 30-Year Journey As Ethan Hunt
Denzel Washington's Career In Pictures: From 'Carbon Copy' To 'The Equalizer 3'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Would you sell your kidney to see a concert? This fest gives you the option.
How badly do you want to go to a music festival? Would you give up an organ to get a ticket? Sweden's Way Out West festival might have an option for you. The music festival is set to take place Thursday to Satursday in Gothenburg, Sweden, with acts such as Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Iggy Pop, Kneecap, and more. Tickets are already sold out, but if you're willing to donate a kidney, you can snag one. 'This year, tickets to Way Out West sold out earlier than ever,' the festival's website explains. 'With no tickets left, the FOMO kicks in hard. People start saying they'd give up just about anything to get one. One phrase you often hear when tickets are gone? 'I'd give a kidney for a ticket.'' The Kidney Pass allows people over the age of 18 who have a Swedish social security number to sign up for the donation registry. You could then give your consent to allow your organs to be donated upon your death. 'By joining it, you're not just saying you'd give a kidney for a ticket, you're showing you truly support organ donation – by being willing to donate your organs after your death,' the festival states. Signing up for the donation registry doesn't mean you're committed to staying in. The ability exists to change preferences or remove your registration altogether. As a disclaimer, Way Out West notes, 'registration does not guarantee a ticket' because only a limited amount are available. However, if you do, you get to say you literally gave your kidney for a ticket. Related coverage: Legendary classic rock singer reveals what really led to drummer's confusing firing '90s rock star was 'surrounded by yes men' before his death, ex-bandmate says Iconic metal band drummer jokes about replacement, declares 'no one can replace me' Two-time Grammy winner with huge '70s hit dead at 84 Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@ Solve the daily Crossword
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
Weekend events: Piedmont Park Arts Festival, dancing with drones
The weather this weekend looks promising, so get out there and savor the city with these events: 🎤 The Concert: A Tribute To ABBA pays tribute to the iconic Swedish pop group at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. (Fri.) 🍖 Kennesaw's 2025 Pigs & Peaches BBQ Festival blends yummy food with craft beer and music. (Fri.) 🎵 The Southern Soul Rising Stars Festival featuring Marcellus TheSinger, FPJ and others takes the stage in Mableton. (Fri.) 🎨 The Piedmont Park Arts Festival is back, bringing two days of artwork such as photography, jewelry and crafts, glass blowers and metal works. You can also enjoy food, a children's area and live music. (Sat.-Sun.) 🪩 Step back in time and fill your wardrobe with clothing and accessories from the 80s, 90s and the 2000s at the Totally Rad Vintage Fest. (Sat.) 🩰 What happens when you combine drones and dancers? The Drone Saga: An Immersive Indoor Drone & Dance Show that uses lights and dance moves to convey a myriad of emotions. (Sat.) 💃🏽 Come together with your neighbors and celebrate culture, music, food and art at the 5th annual Pan African Festival. (Sat.)
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Russians At War' Director & Producer Talk Backlash & Direct-To-Audience Release: 'The Best Counter To The Protests & Hate Is For People To See The Film'
Director Anastasia Trofimova and producer Cornelia Principe are launching a direct-to-audience release this week of the former's controversial documentary Russians at War, in a bid to get it seen after a year of protests and cancellations. The two-hour work gives sobering insight into the futility and carnage of armed conflict through the lives of Russia-aligned soldiers on the front of the country's unprovoked war against Ukraine, with whom Trofimova embedded over a period of seven months. More from Deadline Idris Elba's 'Dust To Dreams' Starring Seal Set To Premiere In TIFF Shorts + Full Lineup TIFF Primetime Lineup: 'The Lowdown', 'Wayward' & 'Black Rabbit' Set To Premiere in Toronto's Series Showcase 'Damned If You Do' Trailer: Gianni Di Gregorio's Comedic Reflection On Love & Family Closes Venice's Giornate Degli Autori After an incident-free world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year, the doc met with protests in Canada from pro-Ukraine groups ahead of its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), with the former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent, leading the charge. The protestors accused the film of being Russian propaganda – in a war of Russia's instigation in which more than 13,500 Ukrainian civilians and between 60,000 to 100,000 military personal have been killed and another 10 million people have been displaced – although none of them had seen the film at that point. At least 250,000 Russian troops have died in the conflict. TIFF canceled the festival screening, instead playing the film in the TIFF Lightbox Theatre on the first Tuesday after its 2024 edition ended, using security staff who were still on site to ensure the safety of Trofimova, her producers and the spectators in the room. 'Anastasia had her very own security detail. I had someone following me around even when I went to the bathroom. When we were on stage for the Q&A, there was a line of security in front of us. People who came had to be security scanned. It was a quite a production, but the festival had to make sure everybody was safe,' recounts Principe. The Oscar-nominated Canadian producer (To Kill A Tiger) produced the documentary under her Raja Pictures banner with Sally Blake and Philippe Levasseur at Paris-based Capa Presse. The fallout would continue throughout the year with Athens and Zurich among festivals which pulled the film due to protests and security concerns. Principe also reveals that the International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) rescinded an invitation issued in August 2024 for its Best of Fests sidebar saying they could not create a constructive dialog around the work. 'That was surprising,' she says of the disinvite, which occurred under the radar before the festival unveiled its lineup. In the meantime, the push back has only strengthened the film team's resolve to get the film seen, with the producers opting for a direct-to-audience strategy. 'The best counter to the protests and the anger is for people to see the film,' says Principe. '99% of the protests came from people who hadn't seen the film… I totally agree that peaceful protest is a great and constructive way to voice one's opinion, but it would be nice also to see the film.' Principe cites documentaries such as Brett Story and Stephen Maing's Union, following Amazon workers as they attempt to unionize, and Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which also released direct-to-audience, as inspirations for going down the self-distribution route. 'For films that are potentially controversial for some communities or some groups or corporations, going direct-to-audience seems to be the way to go,' says Principe. 'Getting it out there as far and wide as possible was really our plan and it seemed more and more after things happened in Canada and TIFF, that doing it ourselves was the way to go.' Working with the direct-to-audience platform of tech entertainment company Gathr, the producers have created the website, where spectators will be able to gain paid access to the film from August 12. 'It took months and months to get our website together. It's a very fulsome website with lots of content to give people background on the making of the film, frequently asked questions, criticisms that we address, all that is there,' says Principe. The release is worldwide but excludes Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, with the production planning to make it available in those territories for free at a later date. 'That's going to be a separate release because it will be free and we need to make sure that it can actually be accessed in Russia, says Principe. An experienced TV producer and documentarian, who has also worked in Syria and Iraq, Trofimova knew the film would receive pushback from some quarters for the human light in which it portrayed the Russia-aligned soldiers but was not prepared for the full-out backlash it sparked as it embarked on its festival tour last year. 'I think it was easier to go to the front and to be in the war than to deal with what happened afterwards because it was so unexpected. The documentary community has been very supportive overall and very understanding, but what was a shock to me is, how easy it is to be accused of something that people say you did, not that you actually did or said yourself,' she says. 'Most of the people who have been attacking this film, and the most vicious attacks, of course, have been happening online, have not seen the film… In Toronto, where we were the top news story for at least a week, journalists asked the protesters, 'Have you seen the film?' They would reply, 'No, we have not, and we refuse to.' What was surprising for me was, why this anger directed at the film? Why this anger directed at me? Because it's like I became their personal enemy, or the film became their personal enemy.' The fallout has also raised questions for Trofimova around the power of coordinated deplatforming campaigns. 'It has been quite interesting to realize how easy it is for anyone in the documentary community to be attacked and silenced by some sort of interest group, because it didn't take that much to be honest. A lot of the stuff is online. It's quite organized. There's been quite a coordinated defamation deplatforming campaign against this film,' she says. 'It's left quite a bit of damage. I'm not talking about our emotional state, but rather the fact that it started off so well. It was receiving invitations from the world's top festivals and the attacks on it made it so much more difficult for people to program it and to see it. That was the shocking thing.' She also questions the implications of what happened to her for other documentarians who want to tackle controversial and complex topics in the future 'It made me wonder how do we make complex films? It's a question for anyone who wants to take on a big, controversial problem in the world, and we have a lot of them. Now more than ever, documentaries have this huge responsibility to try to explain, to tackle them, to analyze them, to get in there. What do we have to be prepared for as filmmakers next time we go in?,' she says. Trofimova is not certain it is safe for her return to Russia any time soon given the unflattering light in which Russians at War portrays conditions at the front for the country's soldiers, but she hopes to able to return one day to continue a personal mission to capture Russian stories that are told neither in the local media, or internationally. 'The thing about war documentaries is that if you're just faithfully observing and recording this reality, you cannot make anything but an anti -war film, because the longer you stay and the longer you see the futility and how people who are very dear to someone back home, they're just gone. And the same thing goes for both sides… it becomes very, very tragic.' Principe notes how this time last year, she and Trofimova were iin Paris finishing post-production on the work ahead of the Venice premiere. 'A year ago, we were looking forward to Venice. A year later, we're looking forward to releasing the film online, so that people can see it and judge for themselves,' she says. 'They don't have to love the film. They have to don't agree with the film, but watch it and then, we'd love to hear what you think.' Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'The Boys' Season 5: Everything We Know So Far
