Incendies (2010)
Nawal’s story is absolutely devastating. Or at least it is on paper, because while I did think the story had some pretty powerful moments with some thoughtful themes on heritage, upbringing and religious fanaticism, I don’t think Villeneuve fully manages to get all emotions across the screen. The characters don’t feel deep enough and the whole big twist reveal at the end was more an “oh” than a “holy shit” moment it was aiming for. Or maybe this just caught me in a wrong moment, and it is sort of hard to retry this experience when you know the premise. Every movie is, when you break it down,. always a constructed reality, but the story here with the twins going on a quest to figure everything out made me constantly aware I was watching a script play out. When then immersion never happens, it is hard to fully connect with the story, but for other people it can clearly work - given the broadly high remarks this movie have gotten.
Rating: 3