The Nile Hilton Incident

A murder investigation is mired by bureaucratic corruption in this dark Egyptian thriller, where everyone is on the make.

Inspired by a real murder case, Tarik Saleh brings Nordic noir sensibilities to the Egyptian capital and a grubby world of personal, political and systemic corruption. Police detective Noredin, as casually amoral as any of his colleagues, is handed the case of a woman found murdered in a bedroom at Cairo’s Nile Hilton Hotel. Noredin initially views the job as just another opportunity to squeeze the usual suspects and hopefully pocket a few more bribes. But as he uncovers the ever more disturbing roots and reach of the crime, the ambivalent antihero finds his conscience piqued.

An outstanding performance by Fares Fares (Department Q) as Noredin and an intelligent and nuanced script elevate this story above a conventional procedural drama. It paints an excoriating portrait of endemic corruption, made all the more potent by Metropia director Saleh’s re-staging of the action to the days before the 2011 Tahir Square demonstrations.