Powerful. Intense. Unflinching. Devastating. Haunting.

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2013)

Powerfully haunting, brutally unflinching & emotionally devastating, Incendies is that slow poison whose real potency is realised only when it's too late & the irrevocable damage to your psyche is already done. Absolutely unforgettable once you've seen it, Incendies isn't just the best feature that director Denis Villeneuve has made so far but is also the finest to come out from Canada.
Opening with Radiohead's single, "You and Whose Army?", the story of Incendies is told in two different timelines which later converges into one to deliver a huge jolt of shock. One storyline follows twins Jeanne & Simon who journey to the Middle-East in order to fulfil their mother's final wish which is stated in her will, while the other timeline follows their mother's life & is told in flashbacks.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, whose other works include Polytechnique, Prisoners & Enemy, Incendies presents the filmmaker in prime form & even though the film is slightly overlong, it somehow manages to keep us invested into its story long enough until its final revelation, which is strong & shocking enough to shake the very foundations of human relationships.
Set pieces provide a very raw & authentic atmosphere to the whole feature, cinematography brings a gritty layer of its own & captures the events in fine detail, editing could've provided a better pace by trimming down a few lingering moments, performances are very convincing, and the score is brilliantly composed plus Radiohead's single seamlessly fits its narrative.
On an overall scale, Incendies is a beautifully crafted, nicely written & strongly performed cinema about love, hate & wars which delivers such a disturbing, distressing & traumatic cinematic experience that it will leave an indelible scar of its own on the viewers' psyche & is a haunting masterpiece in every sense of the word. Definitely amongst world cinema's finest films of the decade, Incendies comes strongly recommended.