Incendies: A Remarkable Poetic Transposition

After the exponential success Denis Villeneuve has rightly gotten in recent years due to extraordinary films like Prisoners, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune, Incendies is an early film in his career that the film community might now start to echo with potency. It’s a hidden gem overflown with thematic juices. At the center, Villeneuve uses conflict and war in the Middle East as a plot device which works beautifully as it proves to be an effective way to demonstrate violence and sadness. Still, most importantly, it makes us better comprehend how the characters had to act to survive and overcome their inherited adversities by being born in religious and conflict-rich regions. Having said that, Incendies' biggest virtue is its emotional narrative of a family and its obscure past. 

Graced by a Radiohead soundtrack, the opening scene is magnificent because it sets the tone of the movie but not the message. That’s a critical difference in this film. We see close-ups of kids talking with their eyes to the camera, thoughtless young soldiers just doing what they are told, and a foot tattoo. It’s an interesting approach by Villeneuve because while the scene establishes a dark, oppressive, and conflict-oriented setting and foundation, the intended message is one of hope; one of overcoming the differences between us. That there is love even in the most remote and dark places on earth and during a time of war.

Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon Marwan (Maxim Gaudette), two Middle Eastern-born Canadian twins, find themselves grieving their mother’s passing, Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal). They also find themselves confused after receiving two letters as part of their mother’s will. Two letters, one for their father and another for their brother they never knew they had. This sends Jeanne to spearhead an investigation into their mother’s background story in the Middle East. Inspired by a play by Lebanese-Canadian Wajdi Mouawad that narrates some of the true events of the Lebanese Civil War, Villeneuve takes us to fictional places like Daresh, Deressa, and Kfar Ryat. However, for us, it doesn’t seem fictional at all. Thanks to the stunning use of pallets and colors, we feel the palpable realities of that time and place in the Middle East. The proximity to the fears, horrors, and violence is sometimes chilling and hard to watch, but it’s the hope the characters have to find their son in the case of Nawal or their father and brother in the case of the twins, that kept me invested. 

Armed with a blurry picture of her mother in a peculiar background and her first clue in the form of a professor at the University Nawal studied, Jeanne bounces around Daresh almost like playing a cat and mouse game but against herself and her past. She talks to both welcoming and dismissing locals and learns unsettling information. The acting from Melissa here is exceptional. She beautifully captures both the simplicity of things like not understanding a language and asking people for directions but also, the profound emotions of feeling like a foreigner, of feeling alienated, and uncomfortable. Lubna Azabal is also a powerhouse in this film but it’s Melissa who for me, can operate in different wavelengths so effortlessly and Villeneuve uses her so well as we see the story unfold mostly through her eyes.

Once Simon joins Jeanne's search party and in the last quarter of the film, the same kicks into fifth gear. It is here where the pieces of the puzzle come together. To be fair, many directors have failed in “bringing it home”, in other words, in providing a proper closure to the film. Luckily here, we are in proper hands, the best hands. Denis Villeneuve’s directing and editing are phenomenal in such a way that he doesn’t shy away from telling us everything we need to know and yet doesn’t spoil anything. The way the ending unfolds will thunderstruck everyone. The well-grounded dialogue and directing give no room for you to be ahead of the curve and be prepared for what’s to come. This is why Incendies is a thriller at its best.

Aside from the tragic plot, gruesome scenes, and wrenching violence; Incendies is a picture of forgiveness, peace, and repetition. On a macro scale, by looking back into the history of violence and hate towards communities, ethnic groups, or religions, we can understand where things went wrong; and how vastly things derailed. On a micro-scale, by traveling back and learning about where the twins come from, they can be at peace with their mother’s passing. Armed with this knowledge, we can change the narrative and stop from history repeating itself. 

Just as Nawal realizes at the end, she chooses to not let hate overcome her like it has to many people in the past and chooses peace, forgiveness, and love rather than violence.