Tarik Saleh’s latest sees the election of a new Grand Imam take place in Egypt’s most prestigious university for Islamic scholarship.
To the extent that it’s even possible for a film about Islamic extremism and corruption within the Muslim faith to play it safe, Tarik Saleh errs on the side of caution in Cairo Conspiracy. The stilled cinematography favouring pensive, long takes brings a dignified air to what could’ve been a sordid potboiler plot, rich in intrigue and deception appropriate for a film revolving around what happens behind closed doors.
That’s exactly how a private board of elders elects a new Grand Imam, the highest authority in the Sunni sect, at the world-leading al-Azhar University in Cairo. On one end of an ideological spectrum, there’s Sheikh Durani (Ramzi Choukair), a hardline conservative who may be mentoring a small cell of student terrorists-to-be. On the other, there’s an ageing, blind Sheikh (Makram Khoury), the horse backed by shadowy state apparatuses hoping to get a foothold in the insular religious sphere.
The decent if suggestible Adam (Tawfeek Barhom) lands himself in the middle of this vacuum, recruited to be the government’s man on the inside and sent to ingratiate himself with Durani. Saleh’s film plays better as a cool-headed perspective on belief than the moving-picture equivalent of a taut page-turner that it would like to be. Yet Western media has trained us to brace for the worst in works engaging with the fanatical corners of Islam, and so the ground-level sobriety in Saleh’s treatment lands as a blessing all its own.
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Published 12 Apr 2023
This filmmaker’s career has gone all over the map. No idea what to expect.
Involving and provocative enough, but never lands any knockout punches.
A little too startched and polite where it should’ve been gritty and pulpy.
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