Nawal’s journey begins as a young Christian woman in love with a Muslim refugee, a love that results in a child (the hidden brother) and the murder of her lover by her own family. She flees, joins a nationalist militia to find her lost son, and is quickly captured and imprisoned. The film does not apologize for its violence. We see torture, the systematic murder of civilians on a bus (a harrowing long take referencing the 1986 "Bus Massacre" in Beirut), and the casual cruelty of child soldiers. Villeneuve never flinches, but he never exploits. Every act of violence is a scar on the narrative, not a thrill.
Incendies is structured as a detective story, but the mystery isn't "who done it?"—it is "who was she?" Incendies -2010-2010
Simon reacts with anger and refusal, but Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) reluctantly agrees to travel to the Middle East to retrace her mother’s footsteps. What follows is a dual narrative: Jeanne’s investigation in the present day, and flashbacks to Nawal’s youth in a fictionalized, war-torn country (based heavily on the Lebanese Civil War). Nawal’s journey begins as a young Christian woman