Incendies begins with the reading of the will of Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal) to her twin children Jeanne (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette). Naval's last requested to her children is to deliver two letters - one to their father, whom they thought was long dead and a letter to a brother they never knew existed. This sets the twins off on a journey to the Middle East where they start to discover their mother's horrific and heartbreaking past and in turn discover theirs as well. The movie shifts back and forth in time following the twins’ journey to find their brother and father and Nawal’s journey to find the son that she was forced to give up. The movie just builds and builds until the shocking revalation at the end.

How to describe this movie? Incendies has me leaving the theatre reeling. Montreal filmmaker Denis Villeneuve draws us into the tangled story of Nawal Marwan and her children with great skill. It is not a feel-good movie but I cannot deny it is very good storytelling.

Incendies has already won a lot of awards and there are rumours that it will be up for an Oscar in February.