I have been told that I am picky when it comes to film, that I hardly enjoy anything, and that I should not be so dramatic and critical. At least I can totally contest the second statement. If you know me at all, you know that I will refer to at least 20 different movies as "the best thing I've ever seen" and that one of my favorite past times, if not my favorite, is watching the flicks. If you're looking for a review or encouragement to see "Incendies," stop reading. This will be dramatic and critical, because when it comes to reviewing something like this, it's the only way I know how.
Let me begin by saying this: an atrocity against the world of cinema has been committed (told you I won't stray from drama). "Incendies," the "awe-inspring" "film," is the story of a brother and sister on a journey to unearth a family secret. It has been nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Academy, it has accrued 91% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and garnered an unbelievable 8.2 rating on IMDb. I will attempt to explain why all of these reviews, ratings, and nominations are total bullshit, and how this film, in seeking to create a powerful and disturbing work about familial love, ends in cheapening every theme it crosses. If, against all solemn urging, you still want to see this film, stop reading immediately, as I will now proceed to give away the plot.
The trick with the plot is to imagine the very worst thing that could ever happen to anybody, and you have the plot of the film. No, really. Think about it for a minute. Chances are you'll concoct some nightmare about you and your family being deeply harmed as the groundwork. This is not surprising as our lives and the lives of those we love is exactly what we treasure most. Director Villeneuve seems to have also arrived at this simple conclusion, and proceeded to play off of a person's most basic protective instincts to receive a reaction (any sort of reaction). (This film is based off of a play written in 2005.)
So let's think of what could really suck for someone: your mom dies. Yep, that sucks. What could be worse? Well, your mom could have left you convoluted instructions to find a brother you never knew you had and a father who was supposedly dead. Yep, that sucks too. So then you go and find out that your mother had a child she had to give up and then spent 15 years in prison for assassinating some political leader. Yep, that would be difficult news to digest. Then you learn that your mother was tortured by the region's expert. She was raped over and over again by this very man until she became pregnant, gave birth in prison, and was forced to give up the babies until a later reunion. Pretty horrible. Then you learn that YOU are the children to which she gave birth in prison, the product of rape. You'd think that'd be enough for two poor children who had just lost their mothers. You'd think the melodrama was on the verge of ending.
Not so. Because next you find that the man who tortured and raped your mother repeatedly was actually her long-lost son, and so if you can even begin to think about it, you realize, simply, that your father and brother is the very same person. Perfect. herein lies the plot of this tortuous melodrama. A bit Oedipal, n'est-ce pas?
After the emotional bludgeoning, I had little energy to note the other weak points of the film, but they were certainly there. I did not understand that the film was set in the time of the Lebanese civil war until I researched it online after my viewing. That's a huge freaking failure on the director's behalf. The inter-titles were confusing and crude in appearance, and the efforts of poor Villeneuve to create an artful moment in the introductory scene depicting a young child having his head shaved to the wails of Radiohead was as wtf as wtf gets.
I wish that more people saw the soap operatic sides of this film and realize how easy it is to be taken advantage of instead of just subscribing to the notion that if it's cringeworthy and tragic, it's art.
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