Egypt’s most adored actor, George Fahmy, falls into disgrace with the authorities overnight. On the verge of losing everything, George is forced to accept an offer he can’t refuse.

‘Eagles of the Republic’ is a political thriller from director Tarik Saleh, and the final instalment in his loose trilogy of sorts exploring corruption in various aspects of Egyptian society. Following on from ‘The Nile Hilton Incident’ (police corruption) and ‘Cairo Conspiracy’ (also known as ‘Boy From Heaven‘) (religious corruption), ‘Eagles of the Republic’ takes things to the top and focuses on political corruption at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. Reuniting with regular collaborator Fares Fares in the leading role, this is an engrossing film that sits strongly alongside those two aforementioned films thematically.

In this instalment, Fares Fates plays George Fahmy, one of Egypt’s most popular and recognisable actors. He is currently in a relationship with a much younger girlfriend, Donya (Lyna Khoudri), having split from his wife (Donia Massoud) with whom he has a son (Suhaib Nashwan), and he lives a life of luxury, drinking and womanising as he pleases. Approached one day and probed about his loyalty to his country and its president, he finds swiftly that his principles can only hold up so far against the might of government power, and he is compelled to take on a role playing the president in a propaganda movie about the 2013 coup of Mohamed Morsi.

What follows is an exploration of just how far the government’s reach extends and how little control even a seemingly popular and well known figure can wield in its wake, with the narrative unfolding from here. As George navigates these tricky waters in order to keep his family safe, his regular co-star Rula Haddad (Cherien Dabis), a general’s wife (Zineb Triki) and his agent Fawzy (Ahmed Khairy) all find themselves impacted through their proximity to George. There’s also a role for Amr Waked as the sinister government official Dr. Mansour, a particularly pointed casting choice given Waked is living in exile in Spain having been sentenced to 8 years in prison by an Egyptian military court for ‘spreading false news and insulting state insitutions’.

Like the two previous films in this trilogy, ‘Eagles of the Republic’ explores the state of modern Egypt through a different lens and I thought it was as superb as those films (‘The Nile Hilton Incident’ I think remains my favourite). Saleh has weaved a complex but compelling narrative and his direction maintains an undercurrent of tension that is a prerequisite for any good political thrillers. In Fares Fares, he has the perfect leading man to play a leading man, and he is as brilliant as always as a somewhat arrogant man fast discovering his power, money and good looks hold limited currency when up against a malevolent and corrupt administration.

‘Eagles of the Republic’ concludes perhaps the best trilogy you’ve never seen and I’d highly recommend checking out these three films.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Tarik Saleh

Starring: Fares Fares, Lyna Khoudri, Amr Waked, Zineb Triki and Cherien Dabis

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt30781967/