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‘Eagles of the Republic’ Review: An Egyptian Movie Star Is Forced to Make a Propaganda Film in Tarik Saleh’s Catchy but Muddled Age of Autocracy Thriller
An Egyptian movie star is forced to make a propaganda film, and that hooks us. But the plot that ensnares him is barely coherent.
It might sound off-the-wall to describe “Eagles of the Republic” as an “entertaining” saga of repression, but the central character is a fictional Egyptian movie star, and for its first hour or so the film is vivid and funny as it invites us to revel in the perks and gossipy vanity of his charmed but flawed existence. He’s the number-one box-office star in Egypt, who acts in everything from prestige dramas to films with titles like “The First Egyptian in Space.” He’ll throw his weight around arguing with the country’s Muslim censor board (who never met a movie they couldn’t try to neuter), and his private life is a litany of scandalous privilege. As he grudgingly submits to the assignment, getting into his khaki military costume bedecked with medals, we’re pretty certain that we’re going to see a parable of what happens when movie-star hubris runs into the buzzsaw of authoritarian mercilessness.
Or read this on Variety