@
Miss Vicky
Incendies
. . . f@ck me
While nearly everyone previously has spoken about the twist, it is VERY IMPORTANT you DO NOT READ this review if you haven't seen it yet.
Because you can NOT speak about this film without talking about it. And, thankfully, when glimpsing reviews as they came in without delving into them, I was very happy to have skipped over a very important aspect that had a helluva impact.
Said impact brought the reading of the letters to the father and the son, by that person and the final reading of the last letter by the twins all the more emotional.
The fact that I didn't see it coming and just how invested I was, especially when I thought the initial reading of the will and a few scenes after made me question the interest and involvement that may be lacking says a lot of the Director.
And on a secondary note, I should have known not to doubt a film nominated by @Cosmic Runaway to delve into the emotional with an artistic guile. Silly, silly moi.
And for some odd reason I had completely forgotten Villenvue's past films (don't ask me why, I have no idea) and that added unbiased viewing even added more to the eventual mesmerizing effect of the film. And, in the process, those visceral moments that, without going into the absolute graphics, had an immense effect overall.
Along with the locations, the people along the way and the fact that the twins had to visit their mother's homeland really brought a more substantial impact to what she had to impart to them.
The harsh truth.
Even more so for the brother/father.
As he read the words of Nawal addressed to the father. And then, the beautiful words to the son. Very, VERY powerful.
One of contempt. The second; of love.
While the twins will have all kinds of issues to contend with, I think the son/father, having experienced the horrors of that time and became a tool of that horror was able to find something beautiful, that we all seek. A mother's love.
And that, my friends, is some very powerful stuff. Expressed in that final scene with him visiting her grave. The sorrowful peacefulness of it all.
And, you're d@mn right, this one does come with a well earned: BRAVO.