The Nile Hilton Incident

The Nile Hilton Incident (Arabic: حادث النيل هيلتون Hadith Alnayl Hiylton) is a 2017 Swedish thriller film directed by Tarik Saleh. It was screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.^[1] It was awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic.^[2] The film discusses the corruption of Egyptian police before the 25 January Revolution. The plot is inspired by the murder of the Lebanese Arab singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai in 2008.^[3] At the 53rd Guldbagge Awards, the film won five awards, including Best Film.^[4]

The Nile Hilton Incident
Film poster
Directed by	Tarik Saleh
Written by	Tarik Saleh
Produced by	Kristina Åberg
Starring	Fares Fares
Music by	Krister Linder
Release dates	21 January 2017 (2017-01-21) (Sundance) 29 September 2017 (2017-09-29) (Sweden)
Running time	106 minutes
Countries	Sweden Egypt Denmark Germany
Languages	Arabic Nuer/Dinka

Plot

The narrative revolves around Noredin (Fares Fares), an enigmatic and rugged detective renowned for his chain-smoking habit. Tasked with a homicide investigation, he delves into the unsettling murder case of Lalena, a pop star entwined in the world of politics as the mistress of Hatem Shafiq (based on Hisham Talaat Moustafa).^[5] The grim discovery of Lalena's lifeless body, her throat brutally slit, occurs within the confines of the eponymous Nile Hilton hotel.^[6]

The case takes an intriguing turn as the sole witness to the gruesome crime emerges – a Sudanese maid by the name of Salwa (Mari Malek).^[7] Shafiq denies culpability for the murder of Lalena, who, it turns out, collaborated with a sleazy pimp named Nagy (Hichem Yacoubi) to capture compromising pictures of her clients (including Shafiq) to be used as blackmail.^[8] Soon it is revealed that Shafiq had a mysterious man (Slimane Dazi) kill Lalena.^[9]

Cast

• Fares Fares as Noredin Mostafa
• Mari Malek as Salwa
• Yasser Ali Maher as Kammal Mostafa
• Ahmed Selim as Hatem Shafiq
• Hania Amar as Gina
• Mohamed Yousry as Momo
• Slimane Dazi as Green Eyed Man
• Hichem Yacoubi as Nagui
• Ger Duany as Clinton

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 55 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10.^[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[11]