Rating: NR | Runtime: 126 minutes
Release Date: November 18th, 2022 (Sweden) / January 1st, 2023 (USA)
Studio: TriArt Film / Samuel Goldwyn Films
Director(s): Tarik Saleh
Writer(s): Tarik Saleh

Make sure he is elected.

There should be no question about who takes over the title of Grand Imam at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University: the so-called Blind Sheikh (Makram Khoury). One of the country’s most venerable religious leaders, he’s known for following the truth without political affiliation. Whereas that was always held as an admirable trait, if not requisite, for a position that holds comparable power to the president, however, our present times have turned it into a liability. Think the Supreme Court in America—a once unimpeachable branch of government that required bipartisan support for new justices. Now the controlling party in the Senate can push through whomever they want regardless of moderation. It’s the same in Egypt. The president cannot risk the Grand Imam contradicting his whims, so the party acts accordingly.

Tarik Saleh’s Cairo Conspiracy shows us the lengths in which the State will go to install its preferred candidate. Because the Blind Sheikh isn’t the worst option in play. There’s also Sheikh Al Durani (Ramzi Choukair), a man they consider a traitor for leading his students to the “dark side” of Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia Law. General Al Sakran (Mohammed Bakri) therefore gives State Security an order to see that Sheikh Al Beblawi (Jawad Altawil) proves victorious instead. He won’t be a puppet per se. He’s simply known for aligning his politics with the current regime anyway. So, it’s up to Major General Sohby (Moe Ayoub) and his Colonel (Fares Fares’ Ibrahim) to get it done. The question is just how far they should/will go to do it.

Enter Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), the son of a fisherman in a poor village that sees him as their conduit to the future with an education like the one his scholarship to Al-Azhar will afford. To them his going is “God’s plan”. To Ibrahim his enrollment is an opportunity for manipulation on the inside. Being naive and impressionable, the young man is recruited into a clandestine operation without even knowing it until the “friend” who suddenly took a shine to him is murdered before his eyes. What’s Adam to do? Who is he to trust? Ibrahim does everything in his power to make certain that he is the only one in a position to help. That he can protect Adam from suffering the same fate.

We know, though, that there’s as much chance Zizo (Mehdi Dehbi) was killed on Ibrahim’s orders as he was by Al Durani’s student zealot Soliman (Sherwan Haji). We fear for Adam’s wellbeing as he’s told by Ibrahim to befriend the latter and spy on his clique, but we never question his intelligence. Because there’s a reason he earned his place at this school and it’s not to be another disposable spy for the State. Once he’s made aware of his position as a pawn in this game for political power within the religious sphere, he refuses to allow himself to be blindsided again. Maybe it means he’ll risk blowing his cover. Maybe he’ll even betray a friend. Adam is desperate to stay alive knowing one wrong step means never going home again.

Saleh—an artist with the necessary perspective to see the flaws within his overlapping worlds (this Egyptian-set Arabic-language film is Sweden’s Oscar hopeful, after all)—weaves an intricate yet calculated plot that earns its Best Screenplay distinction at Cannes. He’s written Adam and Ibrahim in a way that forces them to acknowledge each other’s humanity as a means of gaining trust. Because while we know Soliman and Sohby are ruthless, a line still exists for Ibrahim. He might be forced to cross it for his own self-preservation, but then so might Adam. Because while the latter came to Al-Azhar for enlightenment, he mostly finds lies. Politics have infiltrated every corner of society straight down to the mosque with every decision having miles of string connecting puppet masters to puppets.

Which will Adam be? Which will Ibrahim be? These questions lend the intrigue necessary to follow along as strategies evolve and pieces leave the board, but the answer we really want to know is whether any of it matters. Because once corruption takes control, there’s no easy way to fight it. Even righteous attempts to expose that corruption have a way of unwittingly bolstering it. And as Saleh explains in his director statement, that truth doesn’t inherently pick a side. Neither Al Durani actively sabotaging the proceedings for personal gain or Al Beblawi intentionally looking the other way when someone sabotages it for him is above the other. And neither is above the State. That’s what Adam ultimately learns: the system is rigged. No “authority” is beyond reproach.

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Fares Fares and Tawfeek Barhom in CAIRO CONSPIRACY; courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.