Review of Incendies (2010) by Jim H — 30 Jun 2011

A Palestinian mother's will sends her children on a mystery that leads to questions about their origins.

This film begins with a plot device, the mother's will, that is simply unnecessary. There's no obvious reason why the mother couldn't simply inform her children about the truths revolving around her experiences in Palestine and their father, and I don't see how the mystery strengthens the impact of the eventual reality.

That said, once the story does unfold, it is captivating and harrowing. The shit this woman went through defies description, and the plot does a fair job of staying ahead of even the most attentive viewer.

I especially like the direction by Denis Villeneuve. When the "school janitor" gives his account of Nawal's experiences in prison, the camera remains focused on Jeanne's reaction. We hear his story as the daughter does, and Villeneuve reminds us that we should be far more concerned with how this tragedy affects the children than with how it affects the story-teller. Likewise, the sections of the film featuring Nawal, especially the brutality she experiences in prison, perfectly balance what to expose and what to hide. The violence is graphic when it needs to be, but mostly it's suggestive to enhance the film's effect.

In the end, the film becomes an allegory for Palestine. As in the film's characters, there is a cycle of anger and violence in this country, and the film urges a break in this cycle, which is of course easier said than done. Additionally, Palestine is a hybrid of multiple cultures, intersecting in a very small area, and without giving too much away, these characters are also hybrids of different forms. Like many post-colonial theorists contend, resolving hybridity is the difficult work that is involved in surviving colonization.

Overall, this is a heavy, oftentimes depressing film, and audiences who couldn't point to where Palestine is/was on the map will have a hard time following the film's action, but ultimately it is a remarkable achievement.