Review of Cairo Time (2009) by Sheila C — 18 May 2011

Plot: Patricia Clarkson (Joan) plays the wife of a U.N. worker who comes to Egypt with the anticipation that her husband will be there to greet her. Unfortunately her husband is unable to break away from the conflict of his work to join his wife and so she is left alone. He sends instead his close friend. Alexander Siddig (Tariq) to meet her and Tariq becomes her guide and her friend.

To some extent the movie is about a woman traveling alone in an Islamic country, her own vulnerability in the face of on-street harassment as a white woman in an Egyptian world, the subtle development of a friendship between two temporarily lonely persons mixed in with an exotic environment and the cultural differences that both attract her and some which threaten her. Will this friendship lead to something more? Watch it to find out.