Incendies

Genre: socio-political drama  

With: Lubna Azabal (Nawal Marwan), Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin (Jeanne Marwan), Maxim Gaudette (Simon Marwan), Rémy Girard (Notary Lebel), Dominique Briand (Professor Niv Cohen), Hamed Najem (Wahab), Majida Hussein (Nawal’s grandmother), Nabil Koni (Uncle Charbel), Zalfa Chelhot (Nouchine), Abdelghafour Elaaziz (Abou Tarek), Baya Belal (Maika), Allen Altman (Notary Maddad), Hussein Sami (Nihad at 5), Yousef Soufan (Nihad at 15), Mohamed Majd (Wallat Chamseddine)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Denis Villeneuve with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne (from a play by Wajdi Mouawad)

Release: 2010

Studio: micro_scope, TS Productions et al.

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.6/10





It’s a Small World After All





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Story-line: after Nawal Marwan’s death, her twentysomething twins raised in Québec are thrown for a loop when they hear the contents of her last will and testament. Referring to a promise unkept, Nawal has left two letters for them to deliver, one to their father – whom they believed dead – and the other to a brother they never knew they had. Moreover, to fulfill the promise, they must travel to her country of origin, Lebanon, and delve into its troubled recent history. 
    

Pluses: a serious and intricate story, an airtight screenplay that provides effective flashbacks and fine dialogues, restrained performances by a competent group of actors (especially the Middle Eastern cast), Denis Villeneuve’s moderately paced direction that captures the mood and complexity of the story while keeping viewers interested throughout, impressive cinematography (most notably on location) and a hard-hitting ending.  


Minuses: you may need some time to get used to this heavy film but it all works out splendidly as its mysteries are unravelled.   


Comments: although INCENDIES (which means ‟Fires”) is excellent in every way, I have rarely seen a movie in which the story is so dominant a feature. Its potent themes (the search for one’s identity, the cycle of violence in the Middle East and the duty of memory) are exposed in a flawless, compelling and devastating way. Let Denis Villeneuve, a world-class director, and Wajdi Mouawad, the fearless playwright, take you to this other world, this other context we all need to understand wherever we live on this planet. INCENDIES, in my judgment, is one of the very best films ever produced in Québec.





MBiS



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Der Untergang

English title: Downfall

Genre: war drama  

With: Alexandra Maria Lara (Traudl Junge), Bruno Ganz (Hitler), Juliane Köhler (Eva Braun), Ulrich Matthes (Joseph Goebbels, the officer in a brown uniform), Corinna Harfouch (Magda Goebbels, his wife), Christian Berkel (Schenck, the SS doctor), Ulrich Noethen (Himmler), Thomas Kretschmann (Hermann Fegelein, Himmler’s assistant), Heino Ferch (Speer, the architect), Götz Otto (Günsche), Donevan Gunia (Peter, a Hitler Youth)

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Screenplay: Bernd Eichinger (based on a book by Traudl Junge and Melissa Müller and another by Joachim Fest)

Release: 2004

Studio: Constantin Film, Norddeutscher Rundfunk et al.

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.1/10





Imagine You’re a Secretary… and Your Boss Is Adolf Hitler





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Story-line: in April 1945, Russian cannons are pounding Berlin and the capital will soon be surrounded. Traudl Junge, Hitler’s personal secretary, recalls those final days in his bunker underneath the Chancery.  

Pluses: a hallucinating turn by Bruno Ganz (notice his spastic left hand, stray lock of hair and violent opposition to ‟kapitulation”), solid acting support, a claustrophobic and competently structured screenplay, striking cinematography and able direction.

Minuses: you will need a little while to get acquainted with the film’s multiple characters but don’t expect much high-mindedness from them. As for subject matter, a number of reviewers have criticized DOWNFALL as too soft on its protagonists – considering their crimes against humanity – but the film does illustrate the Third Reich’s folly and cruelty even in its final days.

Comments: as you will see, some characters consider defeat as inevitable – while others are in denial – and several scenes border on the surreal (the communications breakdowns, a dilapidated hospital, the bargaining, those children manning the barricades). Inside the bunker, Traudl Junge plays a relatively minor role; the ones to watch are obviously Hitler, Eva Braun, Schenck, Himmler and the Goebbels (Joseph, the propaganda chief, and Magda, ‟the most courageous mother in Germany”). DOWNFALL is a disturbing yet useful story about hopelessness, a crushing wait and the ultimate defeat. In memory of Bruno Ganz (1941-2019).





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