The Nile Hilton Incident

The Nile Hilton Incident is not so much Nordic Noir as it is Cairo Noir. The Swedish-Egyptian director Tarik Saleh takes Nordic crime fiction talent to Egypt, to the weeks preceding the mass protests at Tahrir Square. The body of a murdered singer has been discovered at the Hilton Hotel by the square, and many suspect the murderer to be the businessman-politician Hatem Shafiq.

As often in crime fiction, the personal histories of the detectives are left alone. Instead, we are offered a realistic portrait of a society. Saleh does not paint a flattering picture of his father’s homeland.

Local customs remain strong. Members of parliament are immune to criminal prosecution to begin with, but it is still possible to have cases opened or shut with money. The police demand bribes, occasionally from one another, if they happen to cross each other. When Noredin, played by Fares Fares, a detective with a strong sense of justice, attempts to do his job properly, the feedback is clear: “This is not Switzerland.”

Produced with a hefty budget of four million euros, this film works like a thriller machine. It tightens the screws, has unexpected twists and turns, until eventually all pieces of the puzzle fall in their places. At the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic category.

Oskari Onninen, R&A 2017 (translated by Herman Tikkanen)