CAIRO TIME (Canada 2009) **
Directed by Rubba Nada

CAIRO TIME works if one would believe what is happening on screen could be true. 

In Nada’s (SABAH) film which she also wrote, a diplomat’s (Tom McCamus) wife Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) lands at the airport in Cairo, Egypt where she is met by their long time friend Tareq (Alexander Siddig).  As Mark the husband is indisposed for some reason or other, Juliette eventually succumbs to the charm of Tareq and the Arab world.  She reaches the point of having an affair or to change her belief in the American way. 

But Nada’s script gives nothing concrete that would otherwise convert Juliette, she being the strong-willed person she is.  For one, Juliette seems very set in her ways upon arriving at the airport and she has been hassled non-stop from her arrival at the hotel to no end.  The fact that Nada’s film moves along at a snail’s pace allows one to assume that Juliette is offered the time to consider a change. 

Apart from the solid musical score and fine camerawork, and yes - the pyramids beckon at the end - CAIRO TIME still remains unconvincing for the most part. 

CAIRO TIME won the Toronto International Film Festival award for Best Canadian Feature.