Incendies

Plot synopsis:
After their mother succumbs to a stroke she suffers at a community swimming pool, twin brother and sister receive final requests in their immigrant mother's will. To fulfill her wishes, they must journey to her birthplace in an unnamed Middle-Eastern country (based on Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War).
The movie contains a series of flashbacks to the mother's life (Nawal Marwan). Nawal, a Middle-Eastern Christian is impregnated by a refugee (likely a Palestine refugee in Lebanon). Nawal's infuriated brothers kill her lover as he and Nawal try to escape. She reveals to her grandmother that she is pregnant. They keep the pregnancy secret in order to save face. Upon the baby's birth, the grandmother tattoos the infant's heel, and they give the baby boy away. Nawal follows her promise to her grandmother to study in Daresh (a fictional city) during which a civil war breaks out. Under threat of war, Nawal returns to find her lost son. War has preceded her arrival as she discovers her son's orphanage at Kfar Khout has been destroyed. She then pretends to be a Muslim to board a bus with other Muslims fleeing to get to the camp where her son has been moved.
On the way to the camp her bus is attacked by armed Christians. She and a Muslim woman and her daughter survive, only to have the bus covered in gas to be burnt. Nawal escapes by showing her cross. They would not spare the woman, so Nawal claims the other woman's daughter as her own. However, the daughter runs back to the bus and is shot.
Disillusioned, Nawal joins a radical organization. She is planted as a French tutor for a prominent Christian leader and assassinates him. She is sent to Kfar Ryat prison for 15 years, and as prisoner number 72, despite all efforts of her captors, she remains resolute and becomes known as "The Woman Who Sings". Before her release, her enraged captors call upon the torture specialist Abou Tareq to break her spirit and stop her singing. He rapes her repeatedly and she gives birth to twins in the jail. A nurse secretly saves the babies and returns them to Nawal after her release. Nawal emigrates to Canada with the twins.
Upon her death, Nawal leaves a will requesting that her children, Simon and Jeanne, find their father and lost brother. Simon refuses, but Jeanne continues on her own, following in her mother's footsteps. She finds her extended family. They refuse to speak to Jeanne because of the shame her mother brought on the family. She then finds the prison and learns from a former employee that her mother was tortured and gave birth in prison. He gives her the name of the nurse who assisted Nawal during childbirth.
Distraught, she calls Simon to join her. He arrives with their mother's former employer from Canada. They find the nurse and ask about the baby who was born in prison. The nurse reveals their mother gave birth to twins, Janaan and Sarwan whom she safeguarded.
A local notary identifies the name of their lost half-brother as Nihad of May. They trace the warlord who conducted the revenge attack on Kfar Khout and destroyed the orphanage. Simon learns that the warlord had spared the children and took them in and trained them to fight alongside them. Nihad becomes a sniper and searches for his mother. He becomes crazed with war but is refused the chance to become a martyr by the warlord. He returns to Daresh as a sniper and is eventually captured by the enemy. They turn him to their side and train him to be a prison torturer. He is sent to the Kfar Ryat prison where Simon's mother was held. The warlord reveals that Nihad adopts the name Abou Tareq.
Having discovered that their father is their half-brother, they find out that he too had moved to Canada. They find him, and deliver the letters from their motherone for the father and one for the son. We learn that after many years living in Canada, while swimming in a pool, Nawal had spotted a man with a tattooed heel. She approaches him and although he does not recognise her, she realises upon seeing his face that he was also her rapist in prison. She suffers a stroke from the shock and eventually dies, giving instructions to her employer, a notary, about the letters and instructions for her children. Their task fulfilled, the children are now allowed to leave an engraved headstone at her grave.
Her first son, Nihad, having read the letters, realises what he had done to his own mother, and visits her grave.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Like an intense personal experience, it takes a lot to come to grips with the film's story, a moving plot full of twists and catharsis.
Right now, I see no reason why Villeneuve, or any of the actors for that matter, shouldn't have a great future ahead of them.Based on the play Scorched by Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies follows a non-linear plot that spans two generations.
This film is revealing a great Director, especially when given an original story with such powerful dimensions.Despite being skeptical as first of the film being shot in Jordan, when dealing with the very specific, multidimensional Lebanese drama, the geographic distance with the land of Lebanon is detaching the film from the strict reality of the place and taking it to whole other level of significance.
The film begins in sweeping slow motion, centered around a harsh cemented premises with a bunch of boys undergoing the shaving of their hair ala military fashion, with the camera centered on one boy possessing this crazed looking eyes, before cutting to Canada where twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin and Maxim Gaudette respectively) arrive at a notary's office to accept the will of their recently deceased mother Nawal (Lubna Azabal), where they are left with letters to deliver to a father and brother that they do not know.
In the meantime, they are to bury their mother in a certain strange way until their quest has been completed, with the notary Jean Lebel (Remy Girard), Nawal's boss the last few years, ensuring that her last will and testament is completed the way it was intended.Incendies, based upon the play Scorched written by Wajdi Mouawad and adapted for the screen by director Denis Villeneuve, was this year's Best Foreign Language Film nominee from Canada, and there's every reason why it was a nomination well deserved.
Set against a mystery to be unraveled so slowly, bringing together seemingly disparate events together in shocking fashion by the time we're through, the narrative is split into two different timelines, with the current one being the twins' journey to an unnamed Middle Eastern country in search for clues to their unknown father and brother, while with each milestone achieved of sorts, we get to see a flashback to the time of their mother, brought up in a harsh environment involving the staining of family honour, as well as religious zealots and militants who set her off in a tale of an avenging angel, and sacrifice.And the story sprawls in many directions, though with Villeneuve always having an assured hand in not having this fall into melodramatic terms nor have any wasted scenes, highlighting issues that still exist to this very day involving hatred, revenge and forgiveness, but not before laying down a number of surprises that will shake you to the core especially when the mysterious equation finally gets solved – you may get a hint of what's to come, but this got handled so expertly without being verbatim, that it accentuates and compounds the myriad of complex emotions felt by all the characters involved.With sweeping cinematography that's achingly beautiful to gaze at, one of the best scenes involve the brutal, cold blooded mass murder where militants spray countless of rounds into a packed bus, culminating in that shot of a burning bus shrouded in thick black smoke against an endless sandy environment, with Nawal finally snapping into making a decision to take matters into her own hands from then on.
What she did as part of reconciliation is in part a masterstroke in inflicting inexplicable pain in return to her perpetrator, is what made this film a winner, although it will stun you into silence well after the end credits roll from the devastation the narrative left in its wake.The other half of the narrative deals with Jeanne and Simon's journey to dig through unwritten laws, and reluctance of tightly knit communities that prefer to keep the status quo and not dwell and reopen wounds inflicted from their collective shameful past, some in denial, while others happy to have seen a more favourable outcome from Nawal's hardships.
It is this piecing together of the mystery like an investigative drama that makes Incendies unique, and what more, Radiohead also features in the soundtrack – strange but true, and very powerful if you ask me.Comparing the ratings between this film at M18 and Womb at R21 reveals what the censors allow and not allow when dealing with more mature themes, likely centered around the intention of its more controversial scenes.
The quest leads the twins through the Middle East where they slowly learn of the horrific tales which is the life history of their late mother.The movie tells a very graphic but endearing story, perfectly shot and acted allowing the viewer to get fully immersed into the journey and findings of the twins.
The movie shows not only a couple of interesting and diversified characters (played by mostly unknown and indeed extremely talented actors), but also magnificent and intense landscapes, shocking crime and war scenes and insights of a foreign culture and the clash of the generations and ideologies in the past and the present.
Some of the shots here dug deep into my brain, be them haunting or beautiful, they managed to elicit a strong reaction from me.The premise of the story is quite an intriguing one -- upon their mother's death, two twins discovery their father is alive and they have a brother they never knew and then set upon a quest to reveal the truth, and in casting the leads I don't think they could have found more skilled actresses than Lubna Azabal and Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin for the job.
At first it wasn't so bad, but as the film progressed the space between these two grew further and further apart.The last act is where it really derails, as in the present day there are huge discoveries made that we already knew so they lack the sense of emotional catharsis that the characters receive and in the past we see events that the characters already know about so it just becomes a retelling of things we are already aware of.
(Eg if the audience understood they were being manipulated for the sake of great drama.) Conversely I think if this director had made a similar movie based on a true story without the central shocking irony I would have loved it.
He's a great director.Not meaning to 'compare' different films and different intentions, and perhaps conflicting some of what I have said so far: I liked the way Roman Polanski's 'Death and the Maiden' keeps the stage play aspects of the original.
I'm a huge fan of Sergei Bodrov's 'Prisoner Of the Mountains' as a film depicting some themes of war and religious conflict in a fairly realistic way but somehow with a nice balance between 'this is just a filmed play' and 'this is something happening right now which carries some universal truths'.I don't comment that often on IMDb but I do think that for films of an extreme nature (such as Incendies' central twist) it is probably worth recording people's different reactions.Finally, I do think the director is one of the best of recent times and congratulate him on the film despite it not being to my taste..
This is the type of film that when you are watching it, you are not quite sure what will happen, or how the climax, or the ending will come, but when it does, it makes sense to you and leaves you with a multitude of feelings.
At times Incendies was not always the most easy film to watch, not because it was overly violent, or graphic because I thought everything was handled in a very tastefully done way, but it still sucks so much emotion out of us and we get to care so much for the characters and what they are going through as we watch it before our eyes, that we can not help but feel sad, enraged, or even physically ill watching it at times.
It felt like the people involved with the film had something to say and instead of sugar coating everything and making it an easily watchable film with a feel good portion of it, it instead goes for all your emotions and in a sense almost takes you on the journey and the personal trials and tribulations that the characters in the movie have gone on and understandably we can almost feel their pain, exhaustion and hurt because the performances have this sense of believability and authenticity to them, that everything we see them go through feels like the real thing and the way they handle each situation is believable and not far fetched at all.
I have not seen any of the other Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominees, but having just seen Incendies now, I would say that it has a good chance of winning because of how masterful and great it is.
If you do, then Incendies in the film for you.Directed by Denis Villeneuve, who went from this French/Canadian co-production to move onto Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival and last year's brilliant sequel Blade Runner 2049, Incendies is the Oscar nominated film that put Villeneuve on the path he finds himself on now and remains a film of substantial power these years on from initial release.Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name, Incendies is a multi-layered narrative that spans both numerous countries and numerous characters over various timelines but Villeneuve controls his film perfectly as the mystery that lays at the heart of this tale about family, war, life and death never gets muddled as we're drawn further and further into a film that wraps us up in its web and refuses to let us go.There's not the abundance of filmmaking and visual flair that Villeneuve has started to become known for over his more recent Hollywood productions but Incendies power comes almost exclusively from Villeneuve's deft hand with his performers, his handling of a script that other filmmakers would struggle to bring to life and his ability to slowly ebb out more information as we go, that by the time we come to realise just what lays in store for the films characters, the power of Incendies becomes even more apparent.Saying to much about this story would be a disservice to a film that takes many various turns and pivots.
Essentially at its core, a story of both twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan trying to uncover the secret of their father they've never met and find a brother they never knew they had after their Middle Eastern born mother Nawal passes away, Incendies becomes so much more than a typical family drama as it showcases time in the conflict of the Israeli and Palestinian Holy Wars, as well as the twins journey back to their country of nationality.The film in many ways showcases a different side to Villeneuve and proves the director is just as at home handling a $150 million plus Sci-Fi for a major Hollywood studio as he is behind the camera of a small intimate drama that is driven purely by its narrative and characters.
Proof the filmmaker is a man of many talents and a director to be cherished by those that love cinema.Final Say - For any fans of Villeneuve's work, world cinema or powerful character driven dramas, then Incendies should be a film you seek out as soon as possible.
Because it's so good, after watching Canadien/French Film Incendies for the second time, I thought that it must be based on a novel of play.
That's how you'll feel by the end.This Canadian movie, based on a play by a Lebanese writer, is set mostly in Jordan and is a tale of a twin brother and sister (son and daughter) looking for their roots after the death of their mother.
I was curiously zoning out in the middle act - the movie wandered about in the desert (literally)and I did not feel engaged by the characters at all.There seems to be some sort of ying-yang morality tale going on judging by the ending, but it lacked real emotional punch.
I didn't bought the plot in the first place; a twin's odyssey in the middle-east to meet an unknown brother and understand the mystery behind the mental illness of their dead mother; and that's too bad because i wanted to like this movie very hard, but i didn't.
The story dreadfully drags on for a good hour at a false rhythm favourable to boredom, the plot then accelerates in the last 35-40 minutes, but unfortunately this regain of interest is completely annihilated by the highly improbable aspect of the outcome.The narrative structure therefore turns out very blurry and this feeling is emphasized by a very confused editing alternating past and present, for example you get the mother and the daughter mixed up, especially at the beginning, because they resemble too much, and the temporal referential isn't very clear so you never now which period it is or how much time has passed.Moreover, and more importantly, nothing is explained regarding the historical context in Lebanon during the 70's, we're offered raw data that isn't supported and unless you're aware of this civil war episode, the movie tells nothing on that subject even though it occupies a primordial place in the story.Therefore, it's hard to understand the enthusiasm for Incendies and the raving critics it arouse since the content is so weak and hardly compensated by a rather catchy photography and seamless direction..
I can understand some of the attraction to 'Incendies,' as there are some well crafted elements of the film, including beautiful cinematography, superb acting, and a story that immediately draws the viewer into the world of its troubled characters.
Once you've settled into the strange pace and presentation of 'Incendies (2010)', you're treated to an increasingly dark exploration of a woman you know to be dead, whom is still as strong a presence as any other character, and the children who slowly learn about her life alongside us, as we both inch ever closer to an ending that will haunt our memories for days, a tragedy of Greek proportions set against a backdrop of tragedies that all meet that same standard.
Told in both the present and the past, the film traces the efforts of twins, Jeanne (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) to carry out the wish of their dead mother (Lubna Araval) to find and deliver letters to their father and lost brother.
But from there on, the film follows the search and also plays back the events in the Lebanese Civil War which separated their mother from her child and from the father or the twins.
With that said, I am usually underwhelmed by the lack of a good plot/story-line/twists, or just shocked at how they overstep the imagination in order to somehow come up with a " TWIST," Watching Incendies was a great experience.
In her will she charges her twins to search for their father, and brother (whom they did not know about) to give them each a letter in a sealed envelope.Jeanne (the daughter) is prepared to do this but her brother Simon is reluctant and she sets off alone to the Middle East to begin the search.I'll say no more regarding the plot except that the search uncovers surprising events in their mother's past and a traumatic conclusion.Given the volatility of the region in which the story is set the events depicted could well have happened, but that she would send her children off on such a mission is not so believable.Overall cinematography is beautiful and I thought the script and acting was excellent.
I was super excited to see Incendies after watching Denis Villeneuve's latest film, Sicario, and I was not disappointed, despite how different both movies are.
Before his arthouse-Hollywood fame Denis Villeneuve adapted Wadji Mouawad's play into "Incendies," a powerful film combining family epoch, mystery, political commentary and psychological drama.It all begins in French Canada with what is kind of a goofy scene: in the reading of their mother's will twins Jeanne and Simon are tasked with a journey into the Middle East to find out about the secret life their mother Nawal led there before moving to Canada.
Just finished watching incendies after reading so many good things about this movie..honestly this film has left me a bit disturbed...completely shakes you as a viewer....the screenplay, writing was so seamless...
Incendies is powerful and absorbing and while the images of war are familiar from many films, what holds them together is the detective-story trajectory that we cannot reveal and is a discovery even Nawal herself comes to until shortly before her death.Eventually we see the deceased protagonist watch her lover shot in front of her, then gives birth to a child who's immediately taken from her, then is the sole survivor of a bus shot up by Christian militiamen, later is imprisoned and repeatedly raped.
Although the movie is more than 2 hours long, its characters, the acting, directing and story grab your attention until the shocking end.
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.
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.
Denis Villeneuve's "Incendies"- an adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad's play "Scorched"- is a film about a soul being put to rest.This dark mystery is a disturbing, yet moving, tale of a mother, Narwal Marwan (Lubna Azabal); her twin son- Simon aka Sarwan (Maxim Gaudette) and daughter- Jeanne aka Janaan (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin).