Wow, what a GREAT MOVIE!!!

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2011)

This movie will forever imprint in my memory. What a story! I could never believe this movie was just based on and adapted from a play. The screenplay, the storyline and the scenario are one of the best I've ever seen. It's so complicated yet the shocking end is at the same time so obvious in plain sight. Like the Plot of IMDb: The title in French means "Destruction by Fire" and "Scorched" in English, but if you refer to the Greek tragedy "Oedipus", "the fable of Oedipus, with a theme of inadvertent relationship between a mother and son, ends in disaster and shows ancient taboos against unacceptable direct bloodline relationship as Oedipus is punished for committing an already existed ancient taboo by blinding himself. In the "sequel" to Oedipus, Antigone, his four children are also punished for their parents having been entangled in bad incestuous original sin. we could even link this movie's title 'Incendies' was not far away from 'incestuous' crime and punishment from Oedipus.
What we didn't see in this movie is the Oedipus-like guy blinded his eyes and banished himself into the wildness, and the Antigone-like young female mathematician and her twin brother were tormented and troubled by the finding, discovery and the myth of their origin.
The only thing not so clearly portrayed in this movie is the war, the location of the war, the period of the war. Also the racial and religious conflict of the mother's first love. It seems that from the very beginning, the 'Singing woman/prisoner' was a combination of Oedipus and Antigone, she was mysterious punished by the unseen fate, her first romance and affair as well as the vague war. A war at first looked like the independence war declared by Algeria from the French, then became more confusing as a war between the Palestinian and Israeli, then after some research, it's actually about the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990)! The Christians and the Muslims killing each other, both sides were blindly manipulated by the forces around this once-like-paradise then a war-torn country. At the very beginning of this movie, it should have been clearly told that it's during the Lebanese Civil War, giving us a more exact time frame and locality.
This is the only unsatisfactory confusion in this movie, but the directing, the casting, the performances played by the two actresses are all top-notched. Failed to win the "Best Foreign Movie", "Best Screenplay", "Best Directing", "Best Cinematography", "Best Female Actress" and "Best Supporting Female Actress" of Oscar were the biggest shame of Hollywood. To us, this movie should have won all of the above-mentioned categories.
In the meantime, by watching this great movie, we also understood what "greatness" and "catharsis" really meant. We also inevitably realized that the two mothers of all evils in this world: Religions and the wars caused by religions and ethnics differences.
Let the sleeping dog lie somehow might be the best way to deal with your life; never look back; let bygone be bygone; never believe that the truth will set you free, because sometimes, the truth will kill you. Your past really that important? Hell NO, your DNA actually is not that important, just move on.