"Notary Jean Label will bury me without a coffin, naked and without prayers. My face turned towards the ground, my back against the world."
Director: Denis Villeneuve
There are very few moments in movies or media in general, where you watch a scene and feel the depth of emotion from it and decide "that's enough for today." Incendies has more than one scene that made me feel that way and although I did continue watching the movie, the emotional impact is still here.
Incendies revolves around the Lebanese Civil War where two twins are made to find out their mother's past, the final wish of her mother after her death. I do not wanna talk about the war specifically because I have no knowledge about it. However, the horrors of such wars are something that anyone can see and feel it in their heart.
The mother, Nawal Marwan, had a child with a Muslim man named Wahhab, who was killed by Nawal's brothers when she tried to run away with him. This child was tatted and given away to an orphanage so Nawal can find her after a few years when she leaves her hometown. However, the conflicts had already risen to a point of constant attack between the groups and like many children, this kid was lost in war.
There was this scene in the movie where a group of Christian Militants stop a bus filled with Muslim civilians. Nawal was travelling to find her son but she was a Christian, so she pretended to be a Muslim to travel in that bus. The militia shot at the bus, killing multiple civilians. They move on to the next step: burning the bus just to make sure nobody survives. Nawal, with no way out, decides to bring her cross out and yell "I'm a Christian." Just next to her was a Muslim mother and her daughter, they make eye-contact and Nawal, realising the depth of the situation, says "My daughter, my daughter" and carries the child away from her real mother. The very fact that the mother let go of her daughter with 0 hesitation was crazy to me. I was like "So this is the daughter, I can't wait till she finds out that Nawal isn't her mother." However, the kid threw hands, cried and screamed for her actual mother. The fear wouldn't allow her to stay away from maybe the only comfort she can have in this moment, despite her safety. The militants notice this. They separate Nawal from the child and child runs back to her mother in the burning bus, and before she can even reach it, she's shot dead. A child of 4-5 perhaps. Nawal is just sitting there:
This was the first moment I wanted to stop the movie. Everything happening in the world right now, Palestinian children killed by the hands of the people who corrupt the lands. This scene wasn't dramatized or exaggerated, it's the reality for many in the outside world and that scene just reminded of the shattered hope people have of this world. However, I still went on to continue the movie and then came the next scene.
Nawal, realizing her son's orphanage was destroyed and her son, probably abducted by either party of the militant group, decides to work against the Nationalist Party and kills one of their leaders, and goes to jail soon. Not a normal jail of course, a jail intended to torture and break people. One of the other scenes were in this jail where, correct me if I'm wrong, a child was brought into one of the cells with guards. A girl. The doors were closed, militants were guarding the room and Nawal in her 5 feet cell, heard the absolutely horrifying screams coming from those cells. I expected the scream to last maybe 3-5 seconds but it just went on and on and on and Nawal started to sing, she started singing as if trying to block out the screams because she can't break. Her child is out there somewhere, she can't break. She's released after 15 years, with 2 twins. You make of that what you will. The scene where she punches her stomach out of hate was just also too much to handle. I stopped the movie after this scene and finished it the next morning.
She moves to France and dies after realizing a horrifying truth, the most horrifying truth and leaves her will for us to discover. The final scene was also something that was difficult to comprehend and makes me wonder "What would I do if I was ever in that man's place?"
This movie was adapted from a play of the same name by Wajdi Mouawad. The betrayal, the hurt and the tragic nature of it has made me believe that I will not watch this movie again. I was thinking maybe I should let my parents watch this and decided against it after the movie ended. The direction of Denis Villeneuve is insanely beautiful, and I'm astounded by his range. Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049 and now this beauty of a film. I can't recommend this enough to people who want to feel strong emotions when watching a movie. A gem, truly.
