Incendies (2010) is a Canadian film that was co-written and directed by Denis Villeneuve. The movie stars Lubna Azabal as Nawal Marwan, "The Woman Who Sings." In the opening of the film we learn that Nawal has just died, leaving some unusual instructions for her two children in her will.
Then, there's a flashback, where we learn that Nawal, as a teenager, has given birth to an out-of-wedlock infant. The rest of the plot follows from those two starting points.
Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin portrays Jeanne Marwan, and Maxim Gaudette portrays her twin, Simon Narwam. Désormeaux-Poulin has the larger role, and she is superb. Lubna Azabal is equally good as Nawal.
The plot involves a quest journey, and the quest is achieved. However, for me the point of the movie wasn't whether or not the mystery would be solved. The point was to see that war--especially sectarian war--causes immense suffering to everyone involved.
This isn't a feel-good film. Yes--we know the answers in the end. However, except for one powerful scene involving a nurse, there's no joy or happiness for anyone. That makes the movie hard to watch, but it's so powerful that it's
worth watching anyway.
The movie worked well on DVD. It has an incredible IMDb rating of 8.3. (This may be the highest rated film that I've ever reviewed.) I thought it was even better than that, and rated it 10.
