★ 7 / 10
Young fisherman "Adam" (Tawfeek Barhom) receives a letter
CinemaSerf
Young fisherman "Adam" (Tawfeek Barhom) receives a letter that is going to change his life. He has been accepted into the prestigious Al-Azhar University and…
Young fisherman "Adam" (Tawfeek Barhom) receives a letter that is going to change his life. He has been accepted into the prestigious Al-Azhar University and after an emotional farewell with his family he sets off to the hubbub of Cairo. Simultaneously, the Grand Imam dies. This is a very important event for the Sunni community, but it is also an highly significant one for the government too. The President makes it known through his National Security agency whom he wants to succeed to the role. To ensure that the election delivers the required outcome, the rather dishevelled looking "Col. Ibrahim" (Fares Fares) is drafted in. Now he already has an "angel" working for him at the school, but when "Zizo" (Mehdi Dehbi) is found slaughtered in the forecourt, the Colonel must find a new informant - and he alights on the young and impressionable "Adam" - using an intriguingly effective carrot and stick combination of threats and promises. The rest of the film follows the rather perilous path the young scholar must take if he is to facilitate his puppet-master whilst protecting his family from their revenge should he fail - and staying safe from his colleagues who have their own form of sedition on their minds. What we have here is quite a plausible and at times effectively menacing look at just how easily the organs of the state can manipulate, or cause to be manipulated, the most public and seemingly inscrutable of processes. Indeed, after a short while there is a rather depressing inevitability to the whole election procedure! The actual story is not the best. There are a few things that remain unexplained - much of the activities of the honourable "Blind Sheikh" (Makram Khoury), for example, are largely undercooked; and there are one or two scenarios that end just too briefly and conveniently. At one stage I thought it was heading for a really tough and brutal ending - and that would have worked better for me than the one we are offered - but see what you think about that. This is a well written, paced and dark political drama that challenges the status quo and leaves a rather bitter taste in the mouth. The two leading actors are on good form and the film is certainly thought-provoking. The location architecture is glorious too!
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★ 8 / 10
Society
PedroPires90
If there are certain films that we consume and extract everything they want to tell us at the moment it ends, there are others that have much to explore and…
If there are certain films that we consume and extract everything they want to tell us at the moment it ends, there are others that have much to explore and understand between the lines. Cairo Conspiracy - previously called Boy From Heaven, a much more suitable title - is a political and religious thriller with some very clear messages but also a lot to read and extrapolate.
The story is simple and seemingly contained. It tells us about a boy, Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), who receives a letter that will change his life: he has been accepted at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. As soon as he arrives, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar dies suddenly, and a power struggle to replace him begins. For someone with little knowledge of the culture in question and what this position actually represents - believe me, this is much more than a mere college dean in the US - it may seem strange why this is such a coveted place. Why do some people kill? Why do some people give their lives? I confess that when the film ended, I researched the topic a bit more, however, the film does a good job of showing us the importance of what we are talking about here, involving various religious fabrics - more or less dangerous - and the government itself. And where does Adam fit in? Well, Adam, who until then was little more than "the fisherman's son," finds himself involuntarily involved in the centre of these intrigues, conspiracies, and dangerous games.
Tawfeek Barhom - whom I did not know before - has a powerful interpretation as Adam. A young man who still needs to get to know himself but has little time to look at himself. He doesn't always do the right thing. He doesn't always know what to do. He doesn't always find it easy to express what he feels. He is a confused teenager, like any teenager, but he cannot afford to remain in that state for too long. He is forced to become a man. Right now.
Man. If there's one thing that this movie doesn't lack, it's men. It's almost impossible to see a woman in this toxic and patriarchal world. When any attention is given to a woman, it's to expose the way she's treated by society and the more powerful. It's to show us that she should remain without opinion, without identity, submissive and obedient to what life - men - enable her to do. I may be using a lot of words on something that isn't the central theme of this film, but I feel that Tarik Saleh's choice is intentional. Even when he shows us certain family environments of characters who should be dear to us, the writer and filmmaker gives us clues about what he thinks about the concept of family and how genders have well-defined roles within society.
Through this, we can also extract much of what this film wants to say about its central themes. We're talking about a society that merges with its religiosity. Everyone's roles converge with Islam, whether we're talking about a more radical or more open side of it. And when they diverge in the customs and teachings passed down by the written and spoken word, it invariably serves to expose all the hypocrisy of a system that only survives because it enables a few to dominate and control everything and everyone. When Saleh shows us daily hygienic rituals specific to religion, he shows us people cleaning themselves of all their sins, all their anxieties, and all their filth. The filth that leaves marks on the outside and the filth that leaves marks on the inside. And, no matter how much goodwill and people want to do better, there are always stronger forces that could take them down undesired paths, paths that don't represent what that - or any other - religion stands for on paper.
When it comes to power dynamics, Cairo Conspiracy is fascinating. It is so when it demonstrates the calculated relationships of those who know a lot about this life. It is even more fascinating when, gradually, it reveals who are, in fact, the main players of this game and who are their pawns. There are pawns for all tastes. This is particularly visible in the figure of the investigator we follow more closely - Ibrahim, very well portrayed, full of nuances by the already well-known Fares Fares - who has his own pawns and is also a pawn of someone else.
There are also other major pawns. Those who should not even be there. I'm talking about the students of that University who, on one side or the other of the board, have been used in power and backstage wars, being manipulated for personal purposes. This is also a way of keeping society the way it is, indoctrinating - grooming is the right word - from an early age, reaching those most susceptible and feeding the system itself.
Cairo Conspiracy may seem, at times, a cold film. It is a film with no completely right sides or characters doing what we are used to see in Hollywood heroes. But do not be fooled. When it criticizes the functioning of a society, it is not pushing us away from its people. It acknowledges the cynicism but also believes in individuals and the impact that small choices can have. It is not asking for war. It is shouting for help. It is shouting for change. The change of men.
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85%
TOMATOMETER
· 47 reviews
81%
AUDIENCE
· 50 ratings
6.9/10
9.9K
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This is a great movie, I loved it