¨Death is never the end of a story. There are
still traces. If you want to find your brother, you`ll have to go back into
your mother`s past.¨
Incendies is a very powerful and emotional film
from Quebec director, Dennis Villeneuve, which won almost every award in
Canada, several international awards for Best Foreign film and it was also nominated
for an Oscar. The movie is based on Wajdi Mouawad`s play and it actually plays
out as sort of a Greek tragedy. It has several interesting twists; it jumps
back and forth in time, and has a very emotional and shocking last twenty
minutes. I really never guessed what direction the movie was going to go next
as it mixed some romance, drama, and interesting thrills in ways I never
imagined it too. The first half hour I have to admit I was kind of bored with
the story, but as things began to intertwine and develop I was totally hooked
and the final payoff was really worth those long first minutes. The story is
really well told and that is perhaps what I enjoyed the most about this film
more than the cinematography or the performance from the cast. The film has a
very solid and well structured story that allows us to gather information
little by little and figure out how all these different characters end up being
connected to each other. The story sticks with you long after the film has
ended, and makes you want to go back and see everything from the beginning again.
I really enjoyed this film and was shocked by the end.
Twins, Jeanne (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) and
Simon Marwan (Maxim Gaudette) are surprised to discover that they have an older
brother whom they have never heard of and a surviving father who they have
never seen when their dead mother leaves them the task of finding them and
delivering a letter to each in her will. Simon has no intention of following
her mother`s wishes once he hears the news from the Notary Jean Lebel (Remy
Girard) who was very close to his mother. Simon claims his mother was always
absent minded and may have been a great employee for Jean, but as a mother it
was a different story. Jeanne on the other hand is intrigued about finding out
who her father and brother are, so she decides to travel to the Middle East and
trace the steps of her mother as the past may reveal several clues as to who
her mother really was. While Jeanne is in the Middle East searching for her
brother and father, we have flashbacks of her mother, Nawal Marwan (Lubna
Azabal), growing up during the dangerous civil war and fights between Christians
and Muslims. She is sent away from the village where she lived in for falling
for a refugee and getting pregnant. They kill him, but Nawal`s grandmother
spares her life and the life of her son. She sends her to live with an uncle
and study, while she gives her son for adoption. Nawal promises her baby boy
that she will one day come back for him, but when the civil war broke out she
lost all contact with him. Jeanne begins to see how one terrible act lead to
another as the horrors her mother lived through escalate.
Incendies is a Canadian French production but
most of the film takes place in the Middle East. I thought the actors gave a
convincing performance, and they let the story be the true star of the film.
Every scene is connected to another in some way or another, although you don’t quite
understand why some scenes were shown until the end of the film. I had to go
back and rewatch some of them just to see what I had missed. There are several
hints and clues that the director leaves on the way as to what the final
outcome is going to be, but I really wasn’t expecting the shocking finale. I
like these kinds of thrillers that have convincing twists without trying to
fool the viewer. If you go back and watch the scenes again you realize that
everything was there and you could have made the connection long before the
end. Incendies shows us how one hateful act can lead to another and only make
matters worse, it also shows us how religious wars blind us and make us do
things we`d never do in a million years. It will be hard to get this movie off
my head and I absolutely recommend it because it`s a very powerful and
emotional thriller.
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