Tarik Saleh is an Egyptian-born filmmaker living in Sweden. His career is divided between Sweden, Hollywood and productions about Egypt. The latter are made outside the country, including ‘Cairo Conspiracy‘ in which the story takes place in a Cairo whose role is played by Istanbul. The reason is obviously his critical attitude towards the political regime and in this case the religious institutions of his country of origin. His most recent film (2022) was distributed internationally with the title ‘Cairo Conspiracy‘, after the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival (where he won the award for best screenplay) had the title ‘Boy from Heaven‘ which is also the translation of the original title in Arabic. The film gives us an incisive insight into a world that most of us know little or nothing about – the world of Islamic religious educational institutions. He does it using the political thriller genre in a closed social and physical space dominated by religion – not very different from what Umberto Eco did in ‘The Name of the Rose’ – the book and the excellent film based on the book.
Adam, the hero of the film, is a teenager from a fishermen village, who receives a scholarship to the most famous university in the world of Sunni Islam – Al-Azhar University in Cairo. In the institution established at the end of the first millennium, 2-3 centuries before the first European universities, only religion is taught. Discipline is strict, students pray, listen to sermons, read the Koran and its permitted interpretations, and the most interesting moments are the reading contests from the holy books. Any rigid system ignites its own rebellions – small or large – and Adam will quickly learn, with the help of a colleague he befriends, how to get out of the university at night through a gate in the walls or how to enjoy activities of relaxation at the edge or beyond the limits of the permissibility of that world such as smoking or dancing. He will also discover that life in the university, far from being idyllic, is marked by conflicts between the various religious currents, by the confrontation with the political power and its infiltrated agents. The university’s imam dies suddenly, triggering a process of choosing a new imam that is in many ways similar to that of choosing a new pope. The political power is interested in imposing a favorable candidate, because “in Egypt there shall not be two pharaohs”, while militant Islamist circles also want to control the prestigious university. Young Adam will go through an accelerated process of coming to age and will become involved in the political-religious intrigues at the cost of losing his innocence and at the risk of jeopardizing his dream career (as a religious scholar and preacher) and even his life.
The film asks difficult questions related to the role of religion in a modern state, the balance of power and the links between political power and educational and religious institutions, individual influence in a crowded society dominated by conflicting dogmas. Not all questions are answered and not all aspects of a complex political situation are brought to light to the same extent. And yet, the film has the merit of introducing viewers to a world that most have had no access to and bravely bringing up the issues of a corrupt and violent society. ‘Cairo Conspiracy‘ will also satisfy fans of political thrillers. The action is well laid out, with many twists and turns and characters whose destinies seem to be constantly in jeopardy. The lead actor is Tawfeek Barhom, a formidable actor I don’t know much about. In the role of the police inspector and manipulator of informants is distributed another excellent actor, somewhat better known – Fares Fares. The cast in general is excellently constructed and each of the characters has color and consistency. ‘Cairo Conspiracy‘ is a film that cannot but arouse contradictions and debates. That’s what movies like this are made for.