For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - Incendies
The Impression:
There has been nothing but good said about this film since
it blew the critical doors off at festivals this year. Denis
Villeneuve is a beloved if unknown to me director who’s
already got an American debut hurtling in to existence.
The Reality:
Incendies opening scene, involving a fantastic
musical choice and a slow zooming shot of children getting
their heads shaved, had me looking around the mute audience
of critics trying to find someone else who was experiencing
the same moment as me. It wrenched my heart. It slapped me
around and made me want every film to start that well. It
also set the standard for the film unbearably high.
Incendies is a great film, a multi-layered exploration
of faith and history and the horrors that help us become the
people we are. The story follows twin sibling Jeanne
(Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) and Simon Marwan (Maxim Gaudette)
in the wake of their mother’s death. All their mother has
left them though is a series of letter that they’ve been
tasked to deliver to their unknown father and brother in a
country that somehow resembles Lebanon. The glut of the film
follows Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal) in flashback form as she
finds her way through the terrible wasteland of Lebanon as
she attempts to find solace. The film is frank about its
opinions about belief and the terrors of the Middle East,
and Marwan’s journey is not for the faint of heart. The
reverberations Nawal’s life float up through her searching
children’s life and for most of the film I was totally won
over. It’s only in the end, when the secrets of their lives
are finally revealed where the film failed me. The end,
powerful nonetheless, rests on a plot point that I found
soap operatic and though presented realistically, left me
cold. Regardless, Incendies is a good, if not great
film, and deserves an audience, especially an uneducated
American one.
The Lesson:
Even arty movies sometimes pull the soap opera card.
- Noah Sanders
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