"The Nile Hilton Incident" is a new 2017 movie that is a co-production between all kinds of countries in all kinds of languages that tells us the story of a police officer investigating the murder of a young woman who is found dead in a hotel room. The very first scene with said woman already made clear about the police there in Egypt. One orders a shrimp cocktail, the other uses the toilet potentially destroying evidence and a young officer who can identify the victim as a famous singer is told to stay quiet. Without the main character played by Fares Fares, the whole thing would have disappeared as a suicide right away. The writer and director here of these 110 minutes is Tarik Saleh and this certainly has the potential to become his most known work to date. I am not sure if I would agree with others calling this a modern film noir, but maybe it is true and even if you only see it in reference to the witness' skin. It's maybe a crime drama mostly and I would not call it a thriller as when something happens, like somebody being killed, it happens all very quickly and there is never a lot of tension built up.
Fares Fares shines of course thanks to his physicality, but I also think he is a decent actor. I liked him in Kvinden i buret for example too. In this one here, his character is maybe the only one where the title of my review does not apply, but what can one honest cop do against the system. In the end, he is on the ground symbolic for the law and for justice being kicked in the butt gently-speaking. I think I liked the first half more than the second and I may perhaps have given it an even higher rating had they been able to keep the high level from early on, which would have turned it into one of my 2017 favorites. It probably isn't in there, but it was still a pretty strong watch. In the second half I struggled a bit with the way they included the revolution and the revelation about the protagonist's boss may also have been slightly too absurd, even if it makes sense from the perspective that really everybody there could be bought. Or the beat-up scene with the young cop came a bit out of nowhere too. Other than that, there were some rocky moments when new characters were introduced like the hotel manager guy filming with his camera. But that is just a minor criticism. For a film that comes fairly close to the 2-hour mark, it really flew by and felt authentic and entertaining from start to finish. Finally, also a thumbs-up to Hania Amar, who may have been the most stunning I have seen in films all year. And I have seen a great deal. Shame they wrote her out so quickly, another reason why the second 55 minutes are not on par with the first 55. But overall, this film gets a thumbs-up of course from me and it is nice to see films like this one depicting areas we don't get to see very often in films here in Europe and it is especially nice if said films turn out as well as this one here. I definitely recommend the watch. Go see it.
Fares Fares shines of course thanks to his physicality, but I also think he is a decent actor. I liked him in Kvinden i buret for example too. In this one here, his character is maybe the only one where the title of my review does not apply, but what can one honest cop do against the system. In the end, he is on the ground symbolic for the law and for justice being kicked in the butt gently-speaking. I think I liked the first half more than the second and I may perhaps have given it an even higher rating had they been able to keep the high level from early on, which would have turned it into one of my 2017 favorites. It probably isn't in there, but it was still a pretty strong watch. In the second half I struggled a bit with the way they included the revolution and the revelation about the protagonist's boss may also have been slightly too absurd, even if it makes sense from the perspective that really everybody there could be bought. Or the beat-up scene with the young cop came a bit out of nowhere too. Other than that, there were some rocky moments when new characters were introduced like the hotel manager guy filming with his camera. But that is just a minor criticism. For a film that comes fairly close to the 2-hour mark, it really flew by and felt authentic and entertaining from start to finish. Finally, also a thumbs-up to Hania Amar, who may have been the most stunning I have seen in films all year. And I have seen a great deal. Shame they wrote her out so quickly, another reason why the second 55 minutes are not on par with the first 55. But overall, this film gets a thumbs-up of course from me and it is nice to see films like this one depicting areas we don't get to see very often in films here in Europe and it is especially nice if said films turn out as well as this one here. I definitely recommend the watch. Go see it.