Tarik Saleh’s spy drama about politics and religion won Best Screenplay at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Adam, a fisherman’s son from a tiny Egyptian village, begins studying at Al Azhar, the most prestigious religious university in the country. A few days after the beginning of the academic year, the head of the university, who is the grand imam of Egypt, dies. The political elite tries to influence the selection of a new imam who will be loyal to their interests. The security services use deception to recruit Adam, a smart and trusting young man, so that he will persuade the university authorities to vote for their candidate.
Saleh’s family comes from Egypt, which became the space of his cinematographic interest. His earlier feature film about corruption in the country, The Nile Hilton Incident, won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film festival in 2017 and was banned in Egypt.
Boy from Heaven was the first of Tarik Saleh’s films to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The acute social themes in the film and the personal circumstances of his biography (Saleh’s grandfather studied at Al Azhar University and his family is Muslim) make Boy from Heaven a story with a rich variety of positions. Against the background of the election of the spiritual leader, the interests of the state and religious institutions and movements come into conflict, as do the characters’ views on politics and religion. Saleh reveals in detail the logic and values of each side, whether it be a wish not to allow upheaval in the country or the need to observe religious principles, which does not allow the viewer to choose a simple position.
The director endows the film with a tenderness of depiction unusual for a spy thriller: of religious rites, traditions, and the people who live within them. Simultaneously, Saleh also underlines the inconceivable responsibility those in power have for the people: long shots of tense behind-the-scenes arguments, the taking of important state decisions, and the brutal commands of a small group of people make way for the depiction of a thousands-strong crowd accepting the new reality imposed on them and freezing in prayer.
The film will be shown in Arabic with Russian subtitles.
Boy from Heaven
Director Tarik Saleh
Sweden, France, Finland, Denmark, 2022. 126 min. 16+