THE CAIRO CONSPIRACY/ BOY FROM HEAVEN (2022) is the second in a trilogy of films that culminates in EAGLES OF THE REPUBLIC, the film that so excited me last week. This one confirms that Tarik Saleh is a major filmmaker. The film begins with the contention that there’s always been a struggle between Church and State in Egypt, and that the state has always attempted to control the Al-Azhar, which the movie depicts as a combination of university but also seat of religious power. When the Grand Imam dies, the NSA (National Security) gets involved to secure the election of a new religious leader that is more in tune with the President’s policies. Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), a young and innocent student from a provincial family gets drawn in to all the political machinations within the Al-Azhar and in the country at large. This is a tense conspiracy thriller, with murder and threats of violence at every corner, and with the type of Jesuitical discourse so common to all religious hard-heads. Will Adam’s genuine faith, goodness and smarts save him from all the evil forces hand-stringing him?
The film has a wonderful contrast between the city — noisy, dirty, usually captured from inside a moving vehicle (I think because Saleh wasn’t allowed to film in Cairo proper) –and the neat, orderly and imposing linearity of the mosque/university; one dark and dirty, the other white, clean, natural light on the mosque’s white marble. Anyone familiar with Medieval History, Phillip Pullman’s novels (THE GOLDEN COMPASS), or any depiction of Vatican politics (CONCLAVE) will be familiar with the structures of this world.
As to the visuals, nothing is careless. There’s a section of the film where Adam, the young hero, is directed to become close to the Muslim Brotherhood. In his first attempt he’s far away from the group in a wide long-shot with the camera on the ground; as he gets closer to being accepted, the camera lifts, the distance shortens, the shots get narrower; until at the end, when he’s successfully infiltrated the group, his face occupies the larger part of a group of three faces, with his occupying half the frame. And this is just one example of how this film tells its story visually. It’s brilliant.
The film is also very moving. One feels for this boy caught in this web that is beyond his control, constantly threatened with his and his father’s life, for things that are not of his doing. How will he get out? At the beginning of the film, the father smells the hands of Adam’s brother, notices that he’s been smoking, and belts all of their hands. Each is responsible for the other; the actions of one, affect all. This is a theme this wonderful film develops to the end. Fares Fares is superb as the NSA operative pulling the strings. It’s on BBC Iplayer and I highly recommend. Richard and I will be podcasting on the trilogy soon.