CAIRO CONSPIRACY EXPLAINS HOW EGYPT IS NOW GOVERNED
The Grand Imam of Egypt is in bad health, so the Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government is concerned that 2 of the 3 possible successors might provoke civil war. Colonel Ibrahim (played by Tares Tares) of the Security Services is assigned to ensure that the favored Sheik becomes the next Imam. He designs an elaborate plot that is not revealed until halfway through the gripping film: First, he awards a scholarship to Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), son of a fisherman in a remote area, intending to use him as a replacement for an unreliable assistant to one of the disfavored Sheiks who will then serve as a spy. To do so, he must first infiltrate the Sheik’s most trusted student group. After the existing assistant is murdered by that group, he is promoted, but the other Sheik confesses because he wants to reveal the plot in a public trial. Sure enough, Adam discovers that the Sheik has secretly given birth out of wedlock, so he is compromised. Then the Sheik has to be persuaded to revoke his confession, and Adam does so. But now Adam is in a position to expose the conspiracy, so Ibrahim’s boss indicates that he is a “loose end” who must be eliminated. Ibrahim, however, has developed a strong personal attachment to Adam, so the fate of Adam appears at the end of the film, which is called Boy from Heaven in Arabic. Directed by Tarik Saleh, who now resides in Sweden, clearly has strong views about el-Sisi’ rule. MH