The Nile Hilton Incident is an expertly written thriller that takes place in Cairo, Egypt, and is inspired by the 2008 murder of Suzanne Tamim, a Lebanese-Arab singer, in Dubai. Noredin Mostafa (Fares Fares) is investigating the death of a singer named Lalena at the Nile Hilton hotel. He’s a corrupt law enforcement official who brazenly accepts bribes and extorts money from people. He is so crooked that he steals all the money from Lalena’s handbag while going through her possessions at her crime scene. Salwa (Mari Malek), a maid at the hotel and a Sudanese immigrant, sees the murder and runs away out of fear. She sees Hatem Shafiq (Ahmed Selim), a politician and a real estate magnate, at the crime scene. Hatim wields considerable power in the government and maintains close personal ties with President Hosni Mubarak.
Noredin’s superior, who also happens to be his uncle, instructs him to close the case in compliance with the top chain’s directives. Even though the case is closed, Noredin holds on to a vital piece of evidence. On the other hand, Hatem is being blackmailed for money by Momo (Mohamed Yousry), the head of the immigrant group, to whom Salwa has told everything about the murder. Hatem forces Noredin to re-open the case to clear his name from the scandal and prove his innocence, primarily to government officials, who will not appreciate generating unnecessary controversy that would discredit the administration, which has already lost the public’s faith.
All the resistance and intrusion that Noredin faces while investigating the case piques his interest, so he begins snooping around. In the third act, the movie turns into a political thriller when Noredin discovers he is facing powers far greater than him. To solve the crime, he must overcome the obstacles of state security, government officials, and singers. He even has a sexual relationship with Lalena’s singer friend Gina, which reminded me of Kate Beckinsale’s character in LA Confidential.
Tarik Saleh creates a grim world in which the country’s economy is sinking, and the autocratic government is cracking down on demonstrators. The portrayal of Cairo as Noredin and his colleague travel through its streets, reminiscent of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, in which Robert De Niro’s character drives through New York streets where everything appears dismal. Noredin has become a victim of the bleak world that surrounds him, and as a result, he has become a product of that environment. For most of the movie, he adopts an ‘I-Don’t-Give-A-Fuck’ mentality in which nothing matters to him.
Fares Fares gives a heartfelt performance of a corrupt and indifferent police officer who grows empathetic and risks his life to protect Salwa. Unfortunately, this is the movie’s worst flaw. A more convincing argument was required to explain why a self-centered and greedy person like Noredin would risk his life to help an immigrant and a total stranger like Salwa. The movie’s ending felt influenced by Chinatown, where Tarik shows that nothing changes and that the weak will always fall to the powerful, which I didn’t mind because it fits the narrative perfectly.
The Nile Hill Incident happened just before the 2011 Egyptian Revolution when President Mubarak was forced to resign because of the widespread demonstrations in the country. Tarik Saleh draws inspiration from noir films like Chinatown and LA Confidential to make a cleverly crafted movie about systematic corruption and moral decay in the country.
The Nile Hilton Incident movie link: IMDB
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