Product Details

• Actors: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Mustafa Kamel, Hussein Sami
• Directors: Denis Villeneuve
• Writers: Denis Villeneuve, Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, Wajdi Mouawad
• Producers: Anthony Doncque, Gilles Sacuto, Kim McCraw, Luc Déry
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Run Time: 139 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0056NEK20
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,356 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Incendies (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This hauntingly enigmatic Canadian film and 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee unfolds backward and forward in time as a riveting, intricate mystery story. Clues are doled out gradually and often without the benefit of reason until shocking answers are unearthed in the final minutes. Set primarily in an unnamed Middle East country that is probably Lebanon, events are told in flashbacks and present-day scenes that run together without comment or overt transitions, employing a formal structure that requires us to pay constant attention to the shifts in perspective. It's a challenging task, but one that becomes enormously engrossing as the narrative weaves around itself against the backdrop of a bloody civil war and the equally damaging emotional battle of a family that is bound to a past ruled by equal parts devotion and horror. The primary characters are Nawal Marwan and her twin children Jeanne and Simon. A framing device set in Montreal where the grown twins hear a reading of their recently deceased mother's will sets up a quest that must be resolved before her body can be put to rest. They are each given sealed letters by the avuncular notary who was both their mother's employer and family friend (he also becomes pretty important to the extended plot, as do a number of other seemingly minor characters). As her last request, the mother has instructed Jeanne to deliver one letter to their father and Simon to deliver the other to their brother. Even though the twins believed their unknown father to be long dead and were unaware of the existence of a brother, Nawal's will assures them that both men are very much alive. With nothing more than the family name and a vague history of Nawal's early life in the strife-torn country where fighting between Christians and Muslims wrought a years-long bloodbath, both children get a crack at solving the mystery. The trails they follow each in their own turn are intercut with episodes from the young Nawal's journey of heartbreak, tension, and terror decades earlier. The children uncover incremental details in the same resolutely objective fashion that director Denis Villeneuve reels out others through the experiences of Nawal as she lived through her own ordeal. The script by Villeneuve was based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad, and there is a deeply resonant literary quality to the narrative that gives what might have otherwise seemed like an unlikely series of coincidences a profound sense of plausibility. An ultimate and entirely legitimate sense of destiny is revealed to all the characters that pass through the story, even in the most tangential way. The truths revealed by the surprise ending are truly devastating and completely unexpected, especially to those for whom the reality they thought they knew has been upended in ways that are unimaginable. --Ted Fry

Product Description

In the highly-acclaimed suspense thriller Incendies, a mother's dying wish creates a painful puzzle her children are forced to solve. At the reading of their mother's will, twins Jeanne and Simon are given instructions to locate the father they believed was dead and the brother neither knew existed. They travel to the Middle East, to piece together the story of the woman who brought them into the world only to make a shocking discovery.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not simply 'scorching', but 'blistering'! September 27, 2011

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Amazon Instant Video

INCENDIES began as a play of the same name by Wajdi Mouawad and was opened up as only cinema can do by the author with the assistance of Canadian director Denis Villeneuve and consultant Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne. The result is a staggeringly powerful film whose story is so well revealed by a cast of sterling actors that telling too much of the plot would be a disservice to those who come to this experience for the first time. In this viewer's opinion it is simply one of the finest films of the decade and it bound to become a permanent part of the cinematic library.

The opening of the film reveals many clues as to the direction the story will take. In a stark room young boys are having their hair shorn: one of the boys as a tattoo on his heal - three aligned dots on the Achilles tendon. After this unsettling beginning the camera moves to Canada in the office of notary Jean Lebel (Rémy Girard) who has the responsibility of executing the will of his secretary Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal in an illuminating performance that plays through the entire film) and presenting the will to Nawal's Lebanese-Canadian twin children Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) Marwan. The will divides Nawal's worldly goods equally between the children, but describes in detail how the deceased mother is to be buried (naked, face down, with no coffin in an unmarked grave) and provides two letters charging Jeanne and Simon to find the father and brother they did not even know existed. The remainder of the film moves back and forth between the past and the present as the twins attempt to find their living relatives and the story of how Nawal's life was an unbelievable nightmare. Nawal was a Christian Lebanese, had a lover who was a Palestinian, and when her lover is killed she realizes she is pregnant, shaming her family and thus forced to give up her boy child to an orphanage - but not before her grandmother sensitively tattooed the three dots on his heel for future recognition. From that point Nawal becomes a mathematician, a hired killer, is imprisoned and tortured and once again becomes a mother. The twins trace clues as detectives to follow the rocky road of Nawal's life and make discoveries that are astonishing.

Though Lubna Azabal is clearly the central star of this film, the entire cast particularly Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin and Maxim Gaudette as the twins is exemplary. Very little of the tragedy of Nawal's life is spared but the power that comes from the moments of discovery of the truths of that life lies in the quiet shock in the eyes of the twins. This is an amazingly powerful film that keeps the audience tension level high making the surprising ending just that much more powerful. The cinematography by André Turpin manages to capture both the vast power of the Middle Eastern desert and villages as well as the moments of intimacy. The musical score by Grégoire Hetzel enhances the atmosphere and the story line very subtlely. But in the end it is the sensitive direction of Denis Villeneuve that brings with human tragedy of a story alive. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, September 11

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Fratricide, Identity and Redemption" January 30, 2012

By Cary B. Barad

Format:Blu-ray

To begin with, this is a foreign language film with English subtitles. It will appeal, above all, to viewers who might be drawn to original, story-driven cinematography complimented by rich cultural details. It also provides exceptional panoramic and intimate shots of a bustling Middle Eastern country generally shrouded in mystery. In fact, I've seen a lot of films, but I don't think I've ever come across a plot/story that even comes close to the one depicted in "Incendies".

The title of my review will give you the nexus. Although the film's religious conflict deals with the historic competition and horrific violence bewteen Christian and Muslim Arabs, it also includes a "special feature" in which current day residents of the region are interviewed--some of whom vow death and eternal vengeance on "The Jews". So--everybody's covered in this one.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome strong drama October 17, 2011

By Rextrent

Format:Blu-ray

Powerful, intriguing. For mature audiences who can handle traumatic and violent subject matter and scenes.
Not a gratuitous film, and there is no propaganda here (If so, it was not obvious to me).
I watched this film twice and believe I might purchase it and watch it some more.
Highly recommended for film watchers who need something to "up the ante" and break out of the boring routine mold.