Defined by its *spoiler*

Rating: 6/10 (29 October 2019)

Massive spoilers in this review!
Unfortunately this movie is only mildly interesting, carried by excellent acting from Azabal (Nawal). That is, until the final reveal. But once that hits, it's a sucker punch to the gut that makes sure to leave your stomach churning. There's a Korean film with a very similar major reveal; I'll call it KF avoid spoilers for those who haven't seen that one.
Thanks to the one similarity, it's impossible to not draw comparisons between Incendies and KF. The reveals for both movies hit me the same way. However, when I first saw KF, I wished a better story had been crafted around the reveal. Not that it was a bad story, but it was incredibly unrealistic. Now that I've seen the more realistic version in Incendies, my wish has been satisfied, though I certainly can't say it was a pleasant experience.
On the other hand, KF was more emotionally satisfying. In Incendies, every time a reveal (major or minor) happened, it cut away to a completely different scene. It actually made me think the two siblings must have had poor actors. It seemed as if the director was almost ashamed to show them acting emotional, even when it was more than appropriate to do so. KF actually allowed the characters to express their emotions on screen, and it made a much more powerful impression.
As a minor point, the siblings don't look very much like either of their parents or each other. If the director was already making it so they didn't have to seriously act, he could have at least made them look the part.
Between Incendies and KF, I think Incendies is the better film thanks to its grounded realism. Despite this, Incendies falls short of greatness by drastically pulling its punches in every emotional scene.