A movie the likes of Incendies serves as an utter example of film’s occasional power to give the viewer goosebumps of bittersweet joy on the way out of the theater. French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has crafted a brilliant saga about a Middle Eastern-born woman’s heroic response to privation and adversity, amidst a civil war reminiscent of Lebanon’s in the 1980s. As draining as it is perceptive, the film’s stunning finale is operatic on a scale rarely experienced.
Nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, Incendies (translation: Scorched) leans on the devastating performance of Lubna Azabal as Nawal, who in the film’s opening has died and left her Canadian twin daughter and son two mysterious letters. They instruct Jeanne and Simon to find both the father they have never met, and a half-brother they didn’t know existed. Simon balks and wishes no part of going back to their Arab homeland to sort things out. Jeanne embarks on a captivating journey she, and this movie’s audience, will never forget.
Via flashbacks we learn Nawal was born Christian and fell in love with a Muslim with whom, to disastrous consequences, she had a baby son, a child she was regrettably forced to give up. She spends many years in a courageous quest to reunite herself with the child while growing tensions between the Muslims and Christians create a seemingly impossible barrier for her. As cool as a Navy Seal, this remarkable woman repeatedly outstares unsurmountable risk after unsurmountable risk. Based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad, Villeneuve’s film allows the audience to stay a step ahead of Jeanne and Simon’s discoveries while maintainng a tight-as-a-knot sense of suspense.
Nawal’s valor is demonstrated in the Middle East with stirring visual imagery (a scene of Christian soldiers attacking a bus she’s a passenger on is one of the most mind-blowing scenes in many a year). It then extends beyond the grave when she lovingly hands her children knowledge that, while disturbingly overpowering, gives them the peace of spirit only the truth can provide. Tragedies fueled by hatred and war, while truly and sorrowfully limitless in ways often unimaginable, can only be overcome by love and a relentless resistance to resignation.
Not a casual 10 out of 10. A Classic.
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