Based on real-life events, 'The Nile Hotel Incident' is set in Cairo just as the Arab Spring hits Egypt. Corrupt police major Noredin works out of the station run by his equally-corrupt uncle. One morning he is called to a swanky hotel where a beautiful young woman has been found with her throat slit. He arrives to find the crime scene has been compromised by his fellow officers: one policeman has trampled through the blood; another is fiddling with the scantily-clad corpse's clothing; and a third is relieving himself in the toilet. The district prosecutor, also present, orders breakfast from room service and charges it to the dead woman. Things are not looking good: even Noredin casually takes money from the dead woman's purse before beginning his investigation. Meanwhile, in a secondary plot line, the Sudanese immigrant who discovered the body tries to stay out of the killer's clutches. When she eventually meets Noredin, will he help her, or will his corruption put her at even greater risk?
Although set in Egypt and with a largely Arabic cast, this film is actually a Swedish/Danish/German/French co-production, not Egyptian (I doubt we would have got the topless scenes otherwise). I've got to say, I've seen better. Noredin, corrupt to the core, is a difficult character to like: and, after the investigation is officially closed, we are never told why he continues with it. Nor are his leaps in logic when accusing three (count 'em!) separate people of the murder adequately explained. But there are also good points: the scene where one of the people Noredin has accused of the murder escapes is done in such an unexpected way it is a total surprise (to me, anyway).
Although set in Egypt and with a largely Arabic cast, this film is actually a Swedish/Danish/German/French co-production, not Egyptian (I doubt we would have got the topless scenes otherwise). I've got to say, I've seen better. Noredin, corrupt to the core, is a difficult character to like: and, after the investigation is officially closed, we are never told why he continues with it. Nor are his leaps in logic when accusing three (count 'em!) separate people of the murder adequately explained. But there are also good points: the scene where one of the people Noredin has accused of the murder escapes is done in such an unexpected way it is a total surprise (to me, anyway).