Comments on: Review: ‘Incendies’ A Strong Film Ultimately Held Back By A Nauseating Final Plot Twist

By: Michele Sabir-Jerrels

Michele Sabir-Jerrels — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

Don't you get it?!!! Oedipus!!!

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

This review pretty much confirmed what I thought about Incendies. For me the hardest thing to swallow was not the 'nauseating' plot twist but the enormously improbable chain of coincidence that took us there. I thought the film was great in almost every other respect (even with the Radiohead song). One other criticism I might make would be with regard to a seeming message about the consequences of war for ordinary people. It seemed to me that even Nahid was presented as a victim of circumstance, yet I found that I couldn't make the same excuse for him. Roger (below) mentions that in the play Nahid is drawn as a psychopathic killer and I think perhaps this would've made more sense in the film. As it stands it's hard to reconcile his career as a sadistic torturer with his eventual remorse.

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

The final plot twist is not only nauseating, it\’s incredulous. You can\’t watch Incendies without seeing it against the reality of the Lebanese civil war from 1975 to 1990, regardless of Villeneuve\’s attempt to anonymize its locale. Nawal is obviously in a Christian phalangist prison for assassinating one of their political leaders. Nihad is clearly (to me) a Palestinian militant who ends up in the same prison for killing seven soldiers. So how does Abou Tarek become the prison\’s celebrated torturer? Does this make any sense at all? Nope.

Apparently in the play Scorched, Wadji Mouawad draws the character of Nihad as a psychopathic killer more than a militant, so the political allegiances are far less clear.

But Villeneuve has committed a grave error in my view by somehow transforming a Palestinian fighter into a Phalangist monster.

By: Erik

Erik — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

I agree that the plot twist in this one felt somewhat overly sensational, but I have to take exception to it being singled out when a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan is so revered on this website. The series of bafflingly inane plot twists in The Prestige makes this look like a masterclass in subtlety.

All in all, I thought \”Incendies\” was a very strong piece of filmmaking, though I don\’t necessarily disagree with most of the criticism in the review.

By: Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

@Josh
I did know about the play, but when I was researching, I thought every other \”Incendies\” article mentioned that and it started to feel redundant. Given that, and the fact that the script was a departure from the play, AND that it didn\’t effect how I felt about the movie itself, I decided to leave it out.

But as for the plot twist – I see what you\’re saying, I think, but the revealing of the father and brother didn\’t HAVE to be a twist, but it was. Really don\’t want to give away the answer here, but it didn\’t have to be as shocking as it was. The movie could\’ve existed if it was something else and would\’ve felt less cheap.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

You may or may not realize that Incendies is based on the play by Wajdi Mouawad called Scorched. A brilliant piece of theatre.

I think you\’re review is good – but am confused by your use of the last act plot twist. The plot twist, as you call it, is actually set up in the very beginning of the film when the siblings meet with the notary. I would even call the plot twist a significant driver of the story. Without the \”plot twist\” the movie doesn\’t exsit. The brother and sister don\’t go looking for their brother and father.

I found it to be a scorching piece of movie making which left me shattered and in awe. The plot twist you so despise is what most endeared me to the plight of the characters.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

I remember Kris Tapley freaking out about the ending of the movie on the Oscar Talk podcast: http://incontention.com/2011/02/18/oscar-talk-ep-53-bafta-fallout-foreign-language-and-animated-short-races-banksy-in-l-a/#more-37914

They discuss it at the 17:20 mark. It doesn\’t spoil anything, but it is funny how worked up he gets.

Great review, can\’t wait to check this out.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:42:46 +0000

You hit just about every single nail on its head with this one. You echo my thoughts on the film pretty much exactly, though, in the end, I think I gave it some more melodramatic allowances than you did and would probably rank it a B/B+. I\’m glad you called out the perplexing use of Radiohead in that opening scenes – it\’s effective, for sure, but it felt cheap and easy, too.