An uncompromising drama by Denis Villeneuve about the civil war in Lebanon. Nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film (2010).
Canada, 2009. After her death, Nawal Marwan leaves her children, Jeanne and Simon, a will in which she asked them to find their father and brother, neither of whom they know. In order to fulfil their mother’s final wish, they travel to her birthplace in Lebanon, where they will learn the shocking truth of their origins.
Incendies is based on a play by Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad and the story of Souha Bechara, a political activist during the Lebanese civil war. As a result of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on military commander Antoine Lahad, Bechara spent ten years in the Khiam detention center, which was notorious for its inhuman treatment and torture of prisoners.
Incendies is a direct political commentary on the tragic events in the Middle East that for decades have made a peaceful life in the region impossible. The images of brutality in the film are somewhere between documentary hyperrealism and Greek tragedy. The analogy with mythological themes allows the director to express the scale of the tragedy of Marwan’s life and that of thousands of others who ended up involved in bloody political games. The shots of the bombing of cities and military training of children are accompanied by excerpts from Radiohead’s song «You and Whose Army» about meaningless cruelty. Such images are frighteningly common in reality and, like many of the scenes in Incendies, are almost impossible to comprehend.
The film will be shown in French, English, and Arabic with Russian subtitles.
Incendies
Director Denis Villeneuve
Canada, France, 2010. 131 min. 18+