NR | 2h 9m | Drama | 2026
George Fahmy (Fares Fares) is no Omar Sharif, but to his fans the fictional Egyptian movie star is close enough. Lately, the quality of the character’s films has declined, but increased government censorship is more to blame than budget constraints.
His next potential film will have the government’s full support, but Fahmy is reluctant to play the role of Egypt’s real-life authoritarian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (played by Kemal Mustafa), for many understandable reasons. However, the regime doesn’t give him a choice in Swedish director-screenwriter Tarik Saleh’s “Eagles of the Republic.”
‘Pharoah of Cinema’
Fans call him “The Pharaoh of Cinema,” but Fahmy (Fares Fares) must still grovel before the Islamist busybodies on the film censorship board. Unfortunately, they have been uncompromisingly axing the sort of romantic scenes that made Fahmy’s reputation.
Ironically, el-Sisi’s propagandists want to exploit Fahmy’s dashing image by having him portray the dubiously elected president, despite their radically different appearances.
Fahmy intuitively understands that a close association with the regime could damage his career. He tries many excuses, even suggesting that audiences would never accept him in the role due to his nominal Coptic Christian faith. However, the regime insists, even threatening his college-student son, Rami (Suhaib Nashwan), until he agrees.
With his new role comes new influence for Fahmy. However, his frequent clashes with Dr. Mansour (Amr Waked), the regime’s chief enforcer (one of the self-proclaimed “Eagles of the Republic”) overseeing the film’s production, bodes poorly for Fahmy. Regardless of the subject matter, Fahmy still wants to make a quality film, whereas Mansour is solely concerned with the propaganda message.
Fahmy has other pressures facing him. His much younger lover, Donya (Lyna Khoudri), resents his apparent inability to assist with her acting career, yet it’s due to her clear lack of talent. More ominously, his frequent costar Rula Haddad (Cherien Dabis) has been blacklisted because she refused to condemn Fahmy during the government’s pressure campaign.
Rather recklessly, Fahmy initiates an affair with Suzanne (Zineb Triki). She’s the wife of the defense minister, Abu Talaat (Tamim Heikal), who despises the regime’s military enablers even more than Fahmy.
Although “Eagles of the Republic” is the third entry in Saleh’s so-called Cairo Trilogy, the films are only thematically related, so it easily stands alone for viewers who haven’t seen the prior “The Nile Hilton Incident” or “Boy From Heaven” (also called “Cairo Conspiracy”). All three films address corruption in Egypt, where Saleh’s father was born. But his latest earned him a persona non grata expulsion by the el-Sisi administration.
Indeed, Saleh’s portrayal of the current regime is quite damning, but there is little nostalgia for the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated president Mohamed Morsi. Arguably, one of the regime’s greatest sins, as presented by Saleh, is its pervasive Islamist-motivated censorship apparatus.
The Soviet-style Armed Forces Day parade (which the reluctant Fahmy is forced to address) also celebrates and rewrites the history of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It falsely suggests that Egypt waged a war of self-defense. The war omitted the considerable military support the Egyptian army received from the Soviets and sanitized the sneak attack on Israel as a triumphant David versus Goliath battle.
Compelled Cooperation
Right from the start, Fahmy recognizes how profoundly ill-equipped he is for navigating governmental intrigue, which immediately builds the film’s credibility. Through him, Saleh explores the juncture where compulsion becomes complicity.
The narrative that unfolds represents a murky political thriller, with a touch of the absurd. It also reflects nostalgia for the golden age of Egyptian cinema. This is stirringly evoked by Alexandre Desplat’s lushly romantic score, which represents his best film work in several years.
Fares, who also played major roles in Saleh’s previous “Cairo” films, gives a keenly modulated lead performance. He conveys a sense of awareness of the dangers he faces, as well as a tragic self-destructive inability to stop making his situation worse. Nobody will accuse Fares of looking like Sharif, but he has a knack for assuming the charisma and élan of a leading man.
Fares and Triki also develop a good deal of heat in their forbidden romance. In fact, Triki’s wit and seductiveness equal and occasionally even overshadow her costar’s forceful brooding presence. They certainly look glamorous together.
Lyna Khoudri also has movie star looks, flamboyantly vamping it up as Donya, Fahmy’s talentless lover. Conversely, Waked’s icy restraint makes Mansour an unusually cold, clammy, and snake-like villain.
Saleh takes some big swings in “Eagles of the Republic,” but he lays sufficient groundwork for them. The wild third-act chaos makes total sense within the film’s dramatic context.
The criticisms are unambiguously aimed at el-Sisi’s Egypt, but they apply to just about every other contemporary Arab state as well. Recommended for the boldness of the storytelling and the grandness of its style.
“Eagles of the Republic” releases in theaters April 17th.
‘Eagles of the Republic’
Director: Tarik Saleh
Starring: Fares Fares, Zineb Triki, Lyna Khoudri, Cherien Dabis, Amr Waked
Not Rated
Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Release Date: April 17, 2026
Rated: 4 stars out of 5
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