Inventive Incendies

This film follows the children of Nawal Marwan on their quest to discover the truth about their mother. At the request of their deceased mother, adult twins, Jeanne and Simon, travel the Middle East to find the father they thought was dead and a brother they didn’t know existed. Canadian Director, Denis Villeneuve, who brought us the film Polytechnique, tells another violent story of trauma and reconciliation. The title “inendies” is loosely translated to “scorched”. Villeneuve refers to this as the inferno that leaves “something totally destroyed, totally transformed…destruction that you cannot change afterwards.” Jeanne’s journey reveals her mother’s dark history pushing the narrative to an end that echoes the devastation of religious conflict. This film challenges discourses of organized religion with its grotesque depiction of unwarranted deaths. The innocent lives transformed over a belief system encourage the audience to reflect on structured religion. This type of film is another provocative investigation of history and culture that is exclusive to audiences of film series like BUFS. I encourage film patrons to seek out such confrontational films.

Check out the trailer at: Incendies