Incendies; A film about the firestorm of the Middle East

Incendies. Written and directed by Denis Villeneuve
International Film Festival screenings July 15th, 17th and 18th
General  Release August 11th

Incendies translates as something about fire and the film is a slow burning saga which occasionally erupts into a firestorm.

It tells the increasingly complex and painful story of Nawal Marwan a Middle Eastern woman who has lived for many years in Canada, Her twin daughter and son, Jeanne and Simon Marwan, are told by the executor of her will, notary Jean Lebel that she will only be buried with a headstone after they have delivered two envelopes; one to their father whom they thought was dead and the other to the brother to a brother they have never known about.

Jeanne goes in search of the father somewhere in the Middle East. The setting is probably Lebanon which is where the playwright Wajdi Mouwad (on who’s play the film is based) was born. In exploring the previous thirty year of the areas history we encounter the cycle of violence and war which dominates Middle Eastern politics.

Director / Writer Denis Villeneuve says that he did not set the film in a particular place so that what may possibly be Beirut is called Daresh in the film.

The question of the naming of places says Villaneuve “haunted me throughout the process of adapting the script to screen. I decided to follow the play’s lead and set my film in an imaginary place in line with Costa-Gavras’s “Z” so as to free it from any political bias. The film is about politics but is also apolitical. The plays purpose was to delve into the subject of anger and not to fuel such anger.”

The film explores the minefield of the sectarian and religious violence of the region as tribal and religious factions struggle over power, legitimacy and land.

It shows why the tensions and enmity between Jew Christians and Muslims exist and why there probably is no peaceful solution while religious and tribal differences persist

It is a bleak film in which the descent into the awfulness of one family’s history is mirrored in the horror of the violence, rape and destruction of a country and its people.

The two main characters Narwal Marwan (Lubna Azabal) and her daughter Jeanne Marwan (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin give riveting performances as we share their journeys through the blighted land thirty years apart from each other.