Almost exactly 20 years ago, at Easter, I visited Egypt. Not for any desire to see the land of the Pharaohs, the Sphinx, the Pyramids, or Luxor, but to see Alexandria, the birthplace of filmmaker Youssef Chahine, whose masterpieces Cairo Station (1958) and Destiny (1997) had left a deep impression on me. I remember gleefully remarking to my travelling companions that this was perhaps the only country in the world more corrupt than mine. A few years later, a friend’s father introduced me to the term Egyptian PT, a phrase to describe slacking off.
Egypt’s endemic corruption and a sheer lack of desire amongst government officials to do an honest day’s work is beautifully captured in The Nile Hilton Incident (2017), by Tarik Saleh, a Swedish filmmaker of Egyptian origin. Lebanese-Swedish actor Fares Fares, so brilliant in the Department Q films, plays the world-weary, chain-smoking Cairo police officer Noredin, under the nepotistic protection of his police chief uncle, both corrupt, as are their colleagues. When a torch singer is brutally murdered at the Nile Hilton and the evidence points to a politically connected billionaire, the case is closed. But a latent desire for justice is awakened within Noredin, and he sets out to solve the case.
The Nile Hilton Incident works as film noir, with the atmospheric cinematography by Pierre Aïm ( La Haine ) setting the tone. But what the film really portrays beautifully is the Arab Spring revolutionary mood in the country, leading up to the events in Tahrir Square and the eventual downfall of the Hosni Mubarak government. Speaking of which, remember the Oscar-nominated film The Square ? No, not that one, I’m referring to Jehane Noujaim’s 2013 documentary that depicts the 2011 Egyptian revolution beginning with Tahrir Square. That, and Sherief Elkatsha’s Cairo Drive (2013), which looks at Cairo’s chaotic traffic before, during and after the revolution, are effective companion pieces to The Nile Hilton Incident for anyone interested in contemporary Egypt. 18 Days (2011), a collection of 10 short films by 10 different directors that looks at the 18 days of the Egyptian revolution, is also worth a look.
While it is too early to predict the return of the Golden Age (1940s-60s) of Egyptian cinema, there are some encouraging films. Mohamed Diab’s Clash (2016) is set entirely inside a police truck as political protests surge around; Amr Salama’s Asmaa (2011) is an inspirational tale about AIDS sufferers; and Hala Khalil’s Nawara (2015) looks at the revolution from a maid’s point of view. In slightly more commercial Egyptian cinema, Hadi El Bagoury’s Hepta: The Last Lecture (2016), Hala Elkoussy’s Cactus Flower (2017), Marwan Hamed’s The Blue Elephant (2014) and Mohamed Khan’s Before the Summer Crowds (2015) have social commentary folded into them.
Contemporary Egyptian cinema has its own style and the films that travel wide are usually because of their themes, and not the filmmaking. The Nile Hilton Incident , winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, though set in Egypt, is not an Egyptian film. It is a Sweden/Denmark/Germany/France co-production and is stylistically resolutely European.
