Incendies

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Writers: Valerie Beaugrand-Champagne, Wajdi Mouawad & Denis Villeneuve

Stars: Lubna Azabal (Nawal Marwan), Maxim Guadette (Simon Marwan), Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin (Leanne Marwan) & Mustafa Kamel (Officer Milice Chretienne)

Review:

My first reaction is “Wow”. Incendies is an amazing drama with suspense that leaves the audience breathless. The story follows the children of Nawal Marwan as they travel through a war-ridden Middle East to find both their brother and their Father. This movie is very powerful by describing how the various wars have destroyed the region and the lives of the people who lived there. With drama, suspense, and mystery, Denis Villeneuve has made a classic film that will resonate for many years.

The shocking nature of this movie may persuade me to not recommend it to certain individuals, but I enjoyed this movie. The filming was great and I liked the pace. I have no negative criticism about the acting or directing. Being that Hollywood movies move at a much higher pace, I was not completely accustomed to the slow suspense. The film depicts perfectly the war side of the plot and the harsh realities of religion. Today such events occur and it is revolutionary to see how war can skew life for many. I think the film aims to show how identity can be completely lost and one’s past destroyed in times of war. Neither the son nor the mother could track one another down, but the children filled in the puzzle. Just a great film, but the plot might be too much for some to handle.

Synopsis:

Incendies begins with the reading of Nawal Marwan’s will. The children are told how the mother wishes her assets to be distributed and how she wishes to be buried. They are then given the task of finding their father and a lost brother. Disturbed by it all Simon, Nawal’s son, chooses to blow off the whole notion and quest. Jeanne, on the other hand, travels to the Middle East to fulfill the quest. She starts by tracking down where her mother went to college and uses an old photo to trace her past. Quickly she is led to the South part of the country where the war has engulfed the region. Jeanne discovers that her mother was a journalist for the university, but went to the South for some reason. In flashbacks, we find out that Nawal grew up in a small Christian village and that her lover was killed for committing adultery. Nawal is spared the harsh punishment for disgracing her family, but is instead exiled after giving birth to a son. Once the war breaks out, Nawal returns to find her son who was given up to an orphanage. She finds the orphanage destroyed and is tipped to search in a town where the children were moved. That town has also been destroyed and Nawal is devastated thinking her son is dead. She joins the Christian militia to fight against the Muslims and assassinates their top official. She is captured and becomes a prisoner of war for 15 years. Jeanne continues to back track her mother’s steps by visiting the village she was born but finds little help. Finally, she finds that her mother was imprisoned and that she was brutally raped and tortured there. Jeanne also learns that her mother is infamously known as the ‘woman who sings’. Simon is persuaded to go find his sister in the Middle East and is convinced to join the quest. He tracks down an old war lord who would know about the orphanage and the prison Nawal was at. The war lord tells the brother’s story and completes Nawal’s, their father’s, and their brother’s story.

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